Pipa Player at the Bank of Xunyang River

This original painting was created based on the literary classic “Pipa” by the renowned poet Bai Juyi (772-846 AD) of the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). The painter Qiu Ying (ca. 1494-1552 AD) of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD) seemed to be implying his own regrets of leaving ambitions unfulfilled in this work depicting a girl playing pipa, a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, to guests on a boat at the bank of the Xunyang River.
Beside an old tree on the bank stand two servants, one holding a lantern while the other managing the horse, waiting for their master who is bidding farewell to his guests. There line two boats, of which the one with a wider interior and comparatively more decorations accommodates the poet Bai Juyi and his guest, while the other, only a part of the bow shown as most of it hidden behind trees, is where the pipa player is in. On the bigger boat the boatman is bowing and the boy servant is serving tea while the guests and our poet talking around the table. Behind the boat lie undulating mountain rocks and swaying reeds. Several returned boats anchor at the bank, which is soaked in a thin mist arising from the river.
A refreshing and elegant palette was applied to the landscape in order to present a lifelike effect. In the illustration of distant mountains as well as where the sky and river merge, silk flosses, split from regular silk threads, that are so thin and light that they can even float in air, were employed to create the misty atmosphere. As for the characters and objects such as trees, rocks, furniture on boat, etc., were all portrayed in meticulous and refined stitches, which are natural, flowing and flexible.
It is easier for those who are familiar with the background of the literary work to sympathize with this image. Looking at this artwork equally appealing as the poem, the viewers seem to have heard the pipa player sighing “need we have to know each other since we are strangers both in misfortune” (同是天涯沦落人，相逢何必曾相识).