A glimpse of the upcoming Metropolitan Chinese painting exhibition

Emperor Xuanzong's Flight to Shu [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

By an unidentified painter probably active in the mid-12th century, the work shows Emperor Xuanzong’s flight from Chang’an (Xi’an), the capital of the Tang Dynasty, to the safety of the Shu area (Sichuan province).

In 745, after 33 years of able rule, Emperor Xuanzong fell in love with Yang Guifei and became indifferent to his duties. When Yang’s favorite general, An Lushan, rebelled in 755, she was forced to commit suicide by mutinous troops. Reluctantly assenting, Emperor Xuanzong looked on in horror and abdicated soon after during his flight to Shu.

This painting depicts the imperial entourage after the execution. While the accoutrements of the figures are Tang, the painting's landscape style of intricately described volumetric forms and a mist-suffused atmosphere suggests a mid-12th-century date.