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from Zhejiang. The location on that occasion was not the examinations in the same year of 1404 (when Yang Shiqi was
home of a Jiangxi native – and again nor was it Yang’s own an examiner). They shared a very close relationship. Wang
home – but rather was that of a Zhejiang native. Chen Zhi and Chen Xun both shared the same origins as Yang
Jingzong had passed his metropolitan examinations and was Shiqi, in that all three were from Taihe county in Jiangxi.
awarded his jinshi degree in 1404, a year in which Yang Shiqi The Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden is thus also a
served as the official presiding over the examination system, reflection of the powerful status of Jiangxi officials at court.
thus putting him in the position of the younger man’s In earlier works on similar subject matter, such as Nine Elders
mentor. At least one other guest at the ‘Western City Feast’ of the Mountain of Fragrance (Xiangshan jiulao tu 香山九老圖) and
was a jinshi who had passed the exams in the same year of Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden (Xiyuan yaji tu 西園雅集圖),
17
1404, thus making him a classmate of Chen Jingzong, and the locality of the officials is diverse. This differs from the
equally beholden to Yang Shiqi. clear prominence given to Jiangxi officials in the Elegant
It is thus relatively easy to grasp that this gathering, held Gathering in the Apricot Garden. In addition to Yang Shiqi, 17
in the private garden of Yang Rong (hailing from Fujian) officials participated in the earlier ‘Western City Feast’, and
and to which Yang Pu (from Huguang) was invited, was not essentially all of them had passed their metropolitan
a simple sabbatical celebration among senior court officials. examinations in 1404. But geographical factors were
Instead, it had the subtle flavour of a semi-private meeting of important on this occasion too. Participants in this ‘Western
native Jiangxi officials. Only two of the nine officials at the City Feast’ included Zeng Qi 曾棨 (1372–1432), Wang Ying,
Apricot Garden did not hail from Jiangxi (Yang Rong and Yu Xuekui 余學夔 (1372–1444), Qian Xili, Zhang Zonglian
Yang Pu); moreover, the undisputed leader of the Jiangxi 張宗璉 (1374–1427), Chen Xun, Zhou Chen 周忱 (1381–1453),
connection within officialdom was none other than Yang Peng Xianren 彭顯仁, Zhou Xu 周叙, Hu Tong 胡穜, Liu
Shiqi himself. This painting therefore can be seen as Chaozong 劉朝宗, Yu Zhengan 余正安 and Xiao Xingshen
highlighting a crucial geographical characteristic of early 蕭省身 (all 14 of these men were from Jiangxi), as well as
Ming-dynasty politics. Chen Jingzong, Gui Zongru 桂宗儒 and Zhang Chang 章敞
From among the guests at the Apricot Garden gathering, (all three of these men were from Zhejiang). Hu Tong, the
Wang Ying, Wang Zhi, Li Shimian and Zhou Shu shared son of Hu Guang 胡廣 (1369–1418), had entered the Hanlin
not only their Jiangxi roots, they had also passed their jinshi Academy in 1418. Yang Shiqi wrote a preface expressly for

Politics or Entertainment? Examining Jiangxi Scholar Officials and Zhejiang Painters through the Lens of the Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden | 103