The Liaoning Provincial Museum’s New Year’s exhibition, China in Poetry and Painting: The Poetic Realm of Chinese Painting, is about to open, and its setup work is nearing completion. On December 29, in the exhibition hall on the third floor of the Liaoning Provincial Museum, four cultural and museum experts were curating the exhibition of a national treasure. Wearing white gloves, they meticulously removed the painting Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing from a wooden box, placed it in the display case, and gently unfurled the scroll on the tailor-made display stand. As the New Year approaches, this national-treasure masterpiece will finally be unveiled again!

Dong Baohou, deputy curator of the Liaoning Provincial Museum, stated that Lady Guoguo’s Spring Outing represents a pinnacle of ancient Chinese figure painting, holding an important position in the history of Chinese art. Through fluid lines and skillful use of color, Tang Dynasty painter Zhang Xuan, presents the elegance and grandeur of contemporary court ladies. The composition is well-balanced, with a natural interplay of density and sparseness. Eschewing a backdrop, the painter only applied wet brushstrokes to depict a touch of grass hue to highlight the figures, making the painting rich in color yet refined. Both the figures and horses strike composed and elegant postures, manifesting the social landscape of the Tang Dynasty. On the occasion of the upcoming Year of the Horse, the Liaoning Provincial Museum will exhibit this national-treasure painting once again after a six-year hiatus, which garners worldwide attention.

Dong Baohou added that the exhibition China in Poetry and Painting: The Poetic Realm of Chinese Painting will feature around 120 pieces (sets) of ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy works possessing high aesthetic value, and he hoped that it will display the ultimate aesthetic pursuits of ancient Chinese people to visitors both at home and abroad.