Eight-panel table screen with scenes of elegant gatherings

A standing table screen with this subject would most likely have been displayed and appreciated in a Confucian scholar’s study. Each side features a scene of a famous elegant gathering of scholars and recluses, who are involved in different leisure activities or scholarly pursuits. One side probably depicts the gathering of the Eight Elders of Nanxiang, esteemed elders in their nineties who lived during the Tang dynasty. The other side illustrates the gathering of the Western Garden during the Northern Song period. Sixteen scholars are divided into groups by activity, including, from left to right: meditating by water, writing on a rock, observing a dancing crane, competing in poetry, playing a lute, and discussing the classics. Both scenes are created based on stories well known in literature and history. The details were imagined and enriched by generations of later scholars, who also engaged in their own gatherings and documented them in writing and art.