Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival
3 min readPainter:Zhang Zeduan
Painting Year:the Northern Song Dynasty
Material:silk scroll
Dimension:vertical length of 24.8 centimeters and horizontal length of 528.7 centimeters Collection Place:the Palace Museum in Beijing
Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival is long-scroll genre painting of Zhang Zeduan，a famous painter in the Northern Song Dynasty.”Qingming”has a double meaning，which refers to Tomb-sweeping Day and golden age with incorrupt politics.”River”refers to Bian River at north section of the Grant Canal which is the trunk linking drainage area of the Yangtze River and drainage area of the Yellow River.This artwork depicts the scenes on both banks of Bian River inside and outside Bianjing（today’s Kaifeng）and daily life of local Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival consists of three parts:the scenes at suburb of Bianjing（Part 1）；boats and carriages，handicraft industry and trade activities，with focus on”Rainbow Bridge”（Part 2）；and rows of many shops，heavy traffic and bustling scene，with focus on city tower（Part 3）.With panoramic composition，mobile Scatter Focus and refned brushwork，whole artwork rolls out social features and social life of people in various strata，which boasts high artistic value and history literature value.
Zhang Zeduan
Art Master
Zhang Zeduan was a painter in Court Painting Academy of the Northern Song Dynasty.With unknown birth date and death date，he was a native of Dongwu（today’s Zhucheng，Shandong）.He was good at boundary painting，in particular boats，carriages，streets，city walls，bridges and so on.He was also skilled in painting of fgure and painting of landscape.
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Genre painting and boundary painting
Genre painting depicts social daily life scenes，such as local conditions and folk customs.
Boundary painting mainly depicts buildings，such as palaces，platforms and houses.Boundary ruler is used to delineate in the creation，hence boundary painting is named after.
This is the climax ofRiverside Scene at Qingming Festival.A big boat in Bian River is passing under Rainbow Bridge, but the mast ls brideeca ae ta aaid bimming pie to cdden dereac 8 incng 21 the boat ctave in the river on the cide af boat ceveral nereone chalke bamboo spar to make fore at right direction. Onlookers stand on the bridge. Some onlookers shout and give suggestions. The anxious onlookers climb on the bridge raining, and place down the rope to fr the boat. Many people watch the scene of bustle and give suggestions on the bank and other boats. Such scenes echo each other with bustling and breathtaking atmosphere.
Anecdote
Extraordinary experience of Riverside Scene at Qingning Festival Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival was collected in the court since its birth. In the late Southern Song Dynasty, it was owned by Jia Sidao,a treacherous court offcial. In the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, it fell into the hands of many people.
In the Ming Dynasty, Yan Song (a treacherous court official) and his son imprisoned many innocent people in order to get Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival. It is said that the famous painter Wang Yu collected this painting, Yan Song’s son Yan Shifan solicited for it. Wang Yu handed over the copy. This was seen through by Yan Shifan’s trusted aide. Wang Yu was killed as a result. In the late Ming Dynasty, Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival was collected in the court again.
In the Qing Dynasty, Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival was continuously collected in the court. In the early Republic of China, the Last Emperor Pu Yi took it to Puppet Manchuria Palace in Changchun. After the founding of the PRC, this ancient masterpiece returns back to the Palace Museum in Beijing.
