Landscape with Daoist immortals in the mountains

Copy after Qiu Ying 仇英 (ca. 1494-1552) · 17th century

Wearing leaf jackets and grass girdles, Daoist immortals participate in various activities in this mountain paradise (dongtian) whose entrance is hidden behind coiling pines. Some admire a painting of taiji (the diagram of cosmological scheme), others play weiqi (Chinese chess), and still others enjoy a hearty feast of wine, magical peaches, and fungus. Painted in the style of famed Ming artist Qiu Ying (circa 1494–1552), this seventeenth-century handscroll brings to mind the many yaji (elegant gathering) paintings in which scholars are depicted practicing calligraphy, painting, chess, and music.