Cai Han (; 1647–1686), was a Chinese landscape painter. She was the concubine of the painter

Mao Xiang Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PR ...

and, with his other concubine Jin Yue, she was commissioned by him with the task of producing paintings as gifts to his guests; they became known as "The Two Painters of the Mao Family".

Names

Autumn flowers and white pheasants 秋花白鷴图

Cai Han's

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

on attaining adulthood was Nüluo (). She also went by her

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ''ho'' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by East Asian artists, poets and writers. The ...

of Yuanyu ().

Life

Cai was the daughter of a member of staff in the house of Mao Xiang in

Rugao Rugao () is a county-level city under the administration of Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, located in the Yangtze River Delta on the northern (left) bank of the river. History In 411, the western part of then Hailing ( Taizhou) was separated f ...

. Sometime during the reign of the

Shunzhi Emperor The Shunzhi Emperor (15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661) was the second Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty of China, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1644 to 1661. A Deliberative Council of Prince ...

, an artist from

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

called Wu Ruixian () sought refuge with Mao. Wu taught Cai to paint and write poetry. Around 1661, Cai became one of Mao's concubines, along with Jin Yue (). The two women collaborated on many compositions, earning renown as 'the two artists of the Mao family' ().

Art

Cai Han was particularly well-known for her

landscape paintings Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composi ...

. The ''Guochao Hua Zheng Xulü'' () described Cai as, 'particularly good at painting landscapes, flowers, animals, and birds,' and, 'adept at imitations.' She painted many pieces together with her fellow

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Jin Yue 金鈅, including ''Auspicious noon'', now held in the

Nanjing Museum The Nanjing Museum () is located in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province in East China. With an area of , it is one of the largest museums in China. The museum has over 400,000 items in its permanent collection, making it one of the largest ...

. In her depictions of people, Xie Li identifies the influence of

Tang Yin Tang Yin (; 1470–1524), courtesy name Bohu (), was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming dynasty period. Even though he was born during the Ming dynasty, many of his paintings, especially those of people, were illustrated with el ...

on Cai's technique. In 2001, one of Cai's works painted in 1680, titled ''Shuihui yuan tu'' (), appeared at an

auction house An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, where it was sold for 40,000

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

Approximately 6100

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

, or 5140

EUR The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . Th ...

, at the time. to an unknown buyer.

References

Notes

Works cited

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External links

* {{authority control 1647 births 1686 deaths 17th-century Chinese painters Qing dynasty landscape painters 17th-century Chinese women artists