Li Rihua (1565–1635) was a Chinese bureaucrat, artist and art critic from

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

, during the late

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. He wrote an extensive diary, the ''Weishuixuan riji'' (Water-Tasting Gallery Diary), from 1609 to 1616, which detailed his many acquisitions as an art collector. The diary is so named because Li had a reputation as a connoisseur of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

, and was particularly skilled at selecting the best water with which to brew it. For a time, he was married to the courtesan

Xue Susu Xue Susu (; also known as Xue Wu(薛五), Xuesu(薛素), Sujun among other pen names) (1564–1650? C.E.) was a Chinese courtesan. Known as one of the "Eight Great Courtesans of the Ming Dynasty", she was an accomplished painter and poet, and ...

, and wrote colophons for several of her paintings.

References

{{Authority control Chinese art critics Ming dynasty essayists Chinese diarists 1565 births 1635 deaths