Overview

The artist of this painting, Sun Yi, whose sobriquets are Weiyong and Weinian, used the artist name Yufeng. He was born in Suzhou of Jiangsu Province in China, but later moved to Fuzhou of Fujian Province, where he won recognition as a prominent painter. A number of paintings by Sun Yi were brought over to Japan, since he was highly reputed outside China as well. He also taught Yamaguchi Sôki (1672-1743), who had come from Okinawa to China to learn drawing techniques. Although Sun Yi excelled at drawing flowering plants in rich colors, he made some paintings of people in delicate brushwork as well. This work depicts an ancient event from the period of Three Kingdoms (222-265) in which Emperor Liu Bei (161-223, r., 221-223) of Shuzhu (present-day Szechwan Province) finally meets Zhu Geliang (181-234), also known as Zhuge Kongming, after failing twice to meet him at his teahouse. The man in the center, wearing a hood and holding a white feather fan, is Kongming. He is showing a picture scroll to the emperor. Behind him are the generals Guan Yu (?-219) and Zhang Fei (?-221).