Purification at the Orchid Pavilion

Fan Yi (active 17th century) was a Chinese painter known for the literati paintings of the Qing dynasty that make him one of the accomplished painters of the Qing literati tradition. Purification at the Orchid Pavilion from 1671 depicts the famous Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion where the calligrapher Wang Xizhi composed the Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion in 353 CE, one of the most important subjects in Chinese literati painting. The 1671 date places this in the early Qing period, when the tradition of painting the Orchid Pavilion gathering was being continued by literati painters who saw themselves as heirs to the great calligraphic and literary tradition of Wang Xizhi.

Purification at the Orchid Pavilion is important in the history of Chinese painting because it demonstrates the enduring tradition of painting the famous gathering at the Orchid Pavilion that is one of the most important subjects in Chinese literati painting. The gathering at the Orchid Pavilion—where Wang Xizhi composed the most famous calligraphic work in Chinese history—is one of the most important subjects in Chinese literati culture, and the 1671 painting shows how this subject was being continued in the early Qing period by painters who saw themselves as heirs to Wang Xizhi's tradition.

Purification at the Orchid Pavilion is Fan Yi's Qing literati painting: the famous gathering at the Orchid Pavilion where Wang Xizhi composed his calligraphic masterpiece, one of the most important subjects in Chinese literati culture. The 1671 painting shows how the Orchid Pavilion tradition was continued by Qing literati painters who saw themselves as heirs to Wang Xizhi's great calligraphic tradition.