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Chapter 11 This chapter reflects a portion of ongoing research on the
early Ming dynasty painter Xie Huan 謝環 (1377–1452) and
Politics or his series of works on the theme of the Elegant Gathering in the
Apricot Garden (Xingyuan yaji tu 杏園雅集圖). These survive
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Entertainment? today in two versions, one in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York (Pl. 11.1), and the other in the Zhenjiang
Examining Jiangxi Museum (Pl. 11.2). The initial plan was to elaborate on a
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history of the formation and transformation of the Elegant
Scholar Officials and Gathering in the Apricot Garden as a concept and as literary and
visual documents, and to expand the geographic field of
Zhejiang Painters enquiry to include all of East Asia. It was a complicated task.
In 1437 nine scholar officials led by Yang Shiqi 楊士奇 (1365–
through the Lens of the 1444) first created the concept of the Elegant Gathering in the
Apricot Garden; Xie Huan in turn produced an image to
Elegant Gathering in the match this. The notion of an Elegant Gathering in the Apricot

Apricot Garden Garden could be perpetuated through literary channels,
while paintings of the theme were disseminated within
connoisseurial channels, and the subsequent woodblock-
printed version circulated even more widely through the
Yin Ji’nan publishing world. One example of this broader circulation
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is Xu Lun’s 許論 (1487–1559) Two Garden Gatherings (Eryuan ji
二園集) (Pl. 11.3), produced around 1560, containing text
Translated by Luk Yu-ping and images of the works Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden
and Birthday Gathering in the Bamboo Garden (Zhuyuan shouji tu
竹園壽集圖).
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This chapter deals with the history of the construction of
a literary and visual trope, one which involves nine Ming-
dynasty scholar officials and one painter (who was a military
attaché or wuguan 武官 at the time). These are tropes which
have been replicated and transformed through time and
through various readings of both text and image. In 1477 Ni
Yue 倪岳 (1444–1501) and Li Dongyang 李東陽 (1447–1516)
viewed a version of the Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden
together at a gathering hosted by Ni Yue of Hanlin officials
who had passed the metropolitan examination in the same
year (Hanlin tongnian hui 翰林同年會). He invited the painter
Gao Sixun 高司訓 to paint the event, and he himself penned
a record accompanying the painting. Ni Yue’s father, Ni
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Qian 倪謙 (1415–79), was sent as ambassador to Korea’s
Joseon court in 1449, where he participated in poetic
exchanges and other literary activities with Korean scholar
officials (see discussion by Lee Soomi in Chapter 24 of this
volume). Later in 1459, Zhang Ning 張寧 (1426–96) was also
sent as envoy to Korea, and had similar poetic exchanges
and gatherings with court members there. Both Ni Qian
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and Zhang Ning were scholar officials who had some degree
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of interaction with Xie Huan’s work. Might they have
shared their knowledge of the Elegant Gathering in the Apricot
Garden concept and scroll in this foreign court? That is a
different field of enquiry.
In 1503 Li Dongyang hosted a gathering of ten men who
had passed the metropolitan examination in the same year
(Shi tongnian hui 十同年會) and invited an anonymous painter
to compose a similarly titled scroll (Shi tongnian hui tu 十同年
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會圖), now in the Palace Museum, Beijing. In 1499, the
Minister of Revenue Zhou Jing 周經 (1440–1510) held a
‘Birthday Gathering in the Bamboo Garden’ (Zhuyuan shouji
竹園壽集圖) attended by 14 scholar officials including Wu
Kuan 吳寬 (1435–1504) and Xu Jin 許進 (1437–1510). He
invited a court painter to record the event in a scroll

Politics or Entertainment? Examining Jiangxi Scholar Officials and Zhejiang Painters through the Lens of the Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden | 99