Writers › Writer / Poet
Du Qiuniang
Tang woman who was first a concubine of the military governor Li Qi, then favoured by Emperor Xianzong; the poem Golden Thread Robe is traditionally linked to her.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Du Qiu · Du Zhongyang
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Du Qiuniang, called Du Zhongyang in the histories, was born around 791 and died after 835, from Runzhou or Jinling. At about fifteen she became a concubine of the military governor Li Qi; after his failed rebellion in 807 she entered the palace and was favoured by Emperor Xianzong, later serving as nurse to Prince Zhang, Li Cou. When he was demoted she returned south and lived in poverty, and Du Mu told her story in his Poem on Du Qiuniang. The quatrain Golden Thread Robe is traditionally attributed to her, though its authorship is not certain.
Life and times
Dates c. 791 CE – after 835 CE