3. Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers – Zhou Fang
During the Tang dynasty (618–907), China had a prosperous economy and flourishing culture. In this period, the genre of “beautiful women painting” enjoyed popularity. Coming from a noble background, Zhou Fang (ca. 730–800), a Chinese artist, created artworks in this genre. His painting Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers illustrates the ideals of feminine beauty and the customs of the time.
Fashion of Chinese Ladies
In the Tang dynasty (618–907), a voluptuous body symbolized the ideal of feminine beauty. Therefore, Zhou Fang depicted the Chinese court ladies with round faces and plump figures. The ladies are dressed in long, loose-fitting gowns covered by transparent gauze. Their dresses are decorated with floral or geometric motifs. The ladies stand as though they are fashion models, but one of them is entertaining herself by teasing a cute dog.
Their eyebrows look like butterfly wings. They have slender eyes, full noses, and small mouths. Their hairstyle is done up in a high bun adorned with blossoms, such as peonies or lotuses. The ladies also have a fair complexion as a result of the application of white pigment to their skin. Although Zhou Fang portrays the ladies as works of art, this artificiality only enhances the ladies’ sensuality.
Holding a long-handled fan, the maidservant follows another palace lady. Although the maidservant stands in the foreground, the lady appears larger because of her higher status. She gazes at a red flower that she holds in her hand, ready to adorn her hair with it. A beautiful crane solemnly passes nearby.
By placing human figures and non-human images, the artist makes analogies between them. Non-human images enhance the delicacy of the ladies who are also fixtures of the imperial garden. They and the ladies keep each other company and share each other’s loneliness.
Festival of Flowers
During the Festival of Flowers, courtiers adorned their hair with artificial flowers made of paper or silk. They held outdoor picnics to celebrate the revival of nature. The ladies admired the beauty of the flowers, but these blossoms also symbolized the fleeting nature of youth.
Zhou Fang not only excelled in portraying the fashion of the time. He also revealed the court ladies’ inner emotions through the subtle depiction of their facial expressions. Thus, showing the fashion of the time, this painting holds great significance in Chinese art. Nowadays, the Festival of Flowers is generally celebrated in March every year.
