Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion

Copying the style of older masters was an important pedagogical tool for traditional Chinese painters. It was a way for them to both learn painterly vocabularies, and ensure the transmission of cultural knowledge across millennia. This scroll, by an unknown Ming Dynasty painter, is in the style of Li Gonglin. Li Gonglin was a Northern Song landscape painter who helped create a more personally expressive style in Chinese painting. Scholars originally attributed this scroll to Li Gonglin himself, but now attribute it to the 16th or 17th century. It can be difficult for scholars to distinguish between original compositions or copies. In this case, the Ming artist’s use of Li Gonglin’s style helped preserve Li Gonglin’s vision of the famous Orchid Pavilion Gathering for later generations.