Attributed to Cui Wei, Passing the Summer by a Lotus Pond, Qing dynasty, 18th - 19th century | 清十八至十九世紀 傳崔鏏〈荷亭消夏圖〉軸 設色絹本

James Cahill, Pictures for Use and Pleasure: Vernacular Painting in High Qing China, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 2010, fig. 5.24.

高居翰，《致用與娛情：大清盛世的世俗繪畫》，柏克萊、洛杉磯及倫敦，2010年，圖5.24

James Cahill et al., Le Palais du printemps. Peintures érotiques de Chine, Musée Cernuschi, Paris, 2006, p. 41, fig. 8 and pp. 192-193.

高居翰等，《Le Palais du printemps. Peintures érotiques de Chine》，賽努奇博物館，巴黎，2006年，頁41，圖8，及頁192-193

In the height of summer when the lotus flowers bloom, a beautiful lady lazes on her bamboo daybed on a veranda beneath entwined willow trees dressed only in a sheer skirt, her breasts exposed. With one hand framing her face and absorbed in thought, she gazes softly at the beholder. In her other hand she holds a translucent silk gauze fan, that barely covers any part of her casually crossed legs; her bound feet are visible through the baluster. On a nearby balcony, two women in an embrace – probably her chambermaids – enjoy the view of the lotus pond, eliciting a homoerotic undertone.

The painter emphasises the aristocratic status of the lady through her stylish accessories and collection of elegant artefacts. Judging from the scrolls on the shelves and the books on the table, she must be a cultivated woman of literary refinement. The painting perfectly captures the popular stratagem of Chinese meiren painting; as James Cahill puts it, there is a “provocative ambiguity… with a woman appearing aloof but nonetheless somehow available” (Pictures for Use and Pleasure, op. cit., p. 192).

The painting is inscribed with two poems on the beauty of the female body and the sentiments of romantic love. The first poem, signed Cui Wei, bears a date corresponding to the summer of 1721. The other inscription, with a brief biography of Cui, is signed Yu Ji (1738-1823), a later figure artist. A native of Sanhan (present-day Karaqin Banner, Inner Mongolia), Cui Wei (active c.1720s-1740s, studio name Xiangzhou) excelled in figure paintings, especially court ladies, and was famous for her elegant brushstrokes and colouration. In style she closely followed Jiao Bingzhen (active 1680-1726) and was also influenced by the Western mannerism popular in the Qing court.

In a hanging scroll format designed for display, the present painting stands out from most Chinese erotic artworks as albums meant for enjoyment in secret. It represents an almost-lost subgenre of erotic images in architectural and landscape settings. For a 19th-century account on the display of erotica alongside virtuous artworks in a Chinese residence, see ibid.