Ming Consort Leaving the Country

This scene shows the imperial consort Minfei leaving her homeland and being escorted to the bleak northern country. The consort Minfei was the Han dynasty beauty Wang Zhaojun. The story goes that the Han dynasty emperor Yuandi ordered artists to draw portraits of court ladies in his harem, so he could choose his concubines according to their beauty. Many court ladies bribed artists in order to be drawn more attractively. Wang Zhaojun, however, refused to give bribes and was portrayed poorly. After seeing the portrait, the emperor sent her off as a bride to the Xiongnu king in the ice-cold northern country. The painting shows Wang Zhaojun and her escorts heading out towards the northern country of Xiongnu. The legend continues with the emperor, who later found out that Wang Zhaojun was a woman of extraordinary beauty, regretted his actions, and sentenced the artists to death. The artist of this handscroll Gong Suran is said to have been a female Taoist. Her name does not appear in any history of painting, and this is the only piece of work attributed to her. It has been suggested that this work was done by a different Taoist artist named Suran from the Zhenyang-gong temple, based on the “Zhenyang-gong Suran” seal on the painting.