Panorama of Along the River During Qingming Festival, an 18th century remake of the 12th century original
Along the River During the Qingming Festival is the title of several panoramic paintings; the original version is generally attributed to the Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145). It captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng. The theme celebrates the festive spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects, such as tomb sweeping and prayers. The entire piece was painted in hand scroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city. It offers glimpses of period clothing and architecture. As an artistic creation, the piece has been revered and court artists of subsequent dynasties have made several re-interpretive replicas. The painting is famous because of its geometrically accurate images of boats, bridges, shops, and scenery. Because of its fame, it has been called "China's Mona Lisa".
Similar to the Mona Lisa, the Qingming scroll was sold, changing hands among numerous private owners, before it finally returned to public ownership. The Qingming scroll is notable historically as being among the paintings from the former imperial collection that remain in public ownership in mainland China; it was a particular favorite of emperor Puyi, who took it with him to Manchukuoand thus kept the Song Dynasty original (24.8 by 528.7 cm)(9¾ in by 17 ft 4 in) out of the collection of the National Palace Museum. It was later re-purchased in 1945 and kept at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City.
About 20 to 30 variations on this topic by artists of subsequent dynasties were made. Several Ming and Qing versions can be found in public and private collections around the world . Each version follows the overall composition of the original fairly faithfully, however, the details often vary widely. The Song Dynasty original and the Qing version, in the Beijing and Taipei Palace Museums respectively, are regarded as national treasures and are exhibited only for brief periods every few years. For instance, the wait in Beijing to see the painting was three and a half hours.
The original painting has other later versions that copied the style of the original. One of the remakes was painted during the Ming Dynasty(14th to 17th centuries). This version has a length of 6.7 meters, longer than the original. It also replaced the scenery from the Song Dynasty to that of the Ming Dynasty.
Another version by five Qing Dynasty court painters (Chen Mu, Sun Hu, Jin Kun, Dai Hong and Cheng Zhidao) was presented to the Emperor Qianlong on 15 January 1737. This version was later moved, along with many other artifacts, to the National Palace Museum in Taipei in 1949, shown above.
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