A Scholar at a Table with a Servant Pillow

This album leaf, by the Qing dynasty painter Hua Yan, one of the celebrated Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou who rejected the orthodox conventions of his day, depicts a scholar seated at a table while a servant prepares ink nearby. The scene belongs to an album illustrating old poems, in which Hua Yan paired evocative literary verses with intimate genre scenes of scholarly life. Such images celebrated the refined, contemplative pursuits — reading, writing, and painting — central to the identity of the Chinese literatus.

Jacquard-woven both sides in soft, durable yarn; insert included.