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The Spirit of Yang Guifei Offering the Emperor Minghuang the Elixir of Immortality in the Palace of the Moon
The Spirit of Yang Guifei Offering the Emperor Minghuang the Elixir of Immortality in the Palace of the Moon

The Spirit of Yang Guifei Offering the Emperor Minghuang the Elixir of Immortality in the Palace of the Moon

Artist/Maker (Japanese, 1780–1850)
Date1831
MediumColor woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
DimensionsVertical nagatanzaku-ban; overall: 16 13/16 × 7 3/16 in. (42.7 × 18.3 cm)
Credit LineMary A. Ainsworth Bequest
Object number1950.478
Status
Not on view
More Information
The romance between Tang dynasty Chinese Emperor Minghuang (reigned 713–756) and his favorite concubine, Yang Guifei, is an archetypal love story of East Asia. The emperor’s obsession with the beautiful and charming Yang caused him to neglect his duties, leading to a destructive rebellion that nearly toppled the empire. Here, Totoya Hokkei conflates their romance with a legend in which the emperor, in a dream, visits the palace of the moon goddess. Note the woman in the background who holds a rabbit—people in East Asia see in the patterns on the moon’s surface not a man’s face, but an image of a rabbit using a pestle to make the elixir of immortality. The artist cleverly chose this theme to commemorate 1831 as a Year of the Rabbit.
Exhibition History
Transformations: Chinese Themes and Images in Japanese Woodblock Prints
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (March 12, 1996 - May 27, 1996 )
Interrogating Beauties
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 9, 2021 - August 13, 2021 )
Collections
  • Asian
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.