Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Zhang Xuan
Tang painter from the capital region who served at the History Office in the Kaiyuan era and painted court ladies, children and palace scenes; his work survives only in Song copies
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Zhang Xuan came from Jingzhao, the area of modern Xi'an, and served as a painter attached to the History Office under Emperor Xuanzong in the Kaiyuan era; his career falls mainly in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao reigns. Zhang Yanyuan's Record of Famous Painters of All Dynasties says he excelled at young aristocrats, horses, screens and curtains, palace gardens and women, and was the leading painter of these subjects in his day. No original by him survives. Spring Outing of the Lady of Guo (Liaoning Provincial Museum) and Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) are Song copies, traditionally ascribed to Emperor Huizong, that preserve his compositions and colouring.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras (713–756)