2-738-814 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Purification at the Orchard Pavilion, c. 1500. The Spring Purification Festival is celebrated outdoors at the waterside and often includes a picnic. This finely carved lacquer panel depicts the historic event of the Spring Purification Festival at the Orchid Pavilion in the year AD 353. The gathering at the Orchid Pavilion is one of the most popular themes in Chinese art, recognizable by scholars sitting along a winding creek on which wine cups were set afloat.