Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Ruan Gao
Five Dynasties figure painter and temple attendant noted for court ladies, traditionally credited with Immortals in a Paradise Garden
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.
Also known as Ruan Gao, attendant of the Imperial Ancestral Temple
Ruan Gao, whose home is not recorded, lived in the Five Dynasties period and served as an attendant at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings says he painted figures and was especially good at court ladies. The Palace Museum's silk handscroll Immortals in a Paradise Garden bears no signature or seal but is attributed to him on the strength of catalogues and colophons, and is the only work given to him; it shows female immortals resting among pines and bamboo by the sea while others ride phoenixes and dragons through the clouds.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the Five Dynasties period