{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O165108"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O165108/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O165108","accessionNumber":"E.557-2008","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Photograph by Wang Qingsong, 'Night Revels of Lao Li' C-Type Print 2000 ","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Wang Qingsong is a leading contemporary Chinese artists who has gathered an international reputation for his large-scale staged photographs that provide a subtle critique of social issues in today's China.\r\n\r\nThis photograph reworks a famous 10th-century (Five Dynasties) scroll painting, The Night Revels of Han Xizai to create what the artist has called 'a portrait of contemporary Chinese reality... portraying the situation of contemporary Chinese people and of intellectuals in particular'. According to legend, the original painting was made for the emperor, who had ordered a court artist to infiltrate the parties of an official he suspected of conspiracy. Here the official is portrayed by Li Xianting, a leading art critic known respectfully as Old Li, who was removed from his post in the 1980s for supporting experimental art. Wang Qingsong himself acts the part of the artist.","physicalDescription":"Colour photograph in scroll format showing a sequence of events at a party, with women in garishly coloured outfits dancing and playing various musical instruments, with men looking on.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Wang, Qingsong","id":"A22990"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"C-type process","id":"THES258425"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"C-type print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES304308"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2000","earliest":"2000-01-01","latest":"2000-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"40","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"249","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"30","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"240","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Night Revels of Lao Li, c-type photograph by Wang Qingsong, 2000","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Making It Up: Photographic Fictions (2018)\r\n\r\nThis photograph reworks The Night Revels of Han Xizai, a Chinese scroll painting from the tenth century. According to legend, the painting was made for the emperor by a court artist employed to spy on an official. Here the official is portrayed by Li Xianting, a Chinese art critic removed from his post in the 1980s for supporting experimental art. The photographer acts the part of the artist, observing each scene from the background.\r\n\r\nMarta Weiss","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"WANG Qingsong ???\r\nBorn 1966, Heilongjiang province\r\nNight Revels of Lao Li, 2000\r\n \r\nThis photograph reworks a famous 10th-century (Five Dynasties) scroll painting, The Night Revels of Han Xizai. According to legend, it was made for the emperor, who had ordered a court artist to infiltrate the parties of an official he suspected of conspiracy. Here the official is portrayed by Li Xianting, a leading art critic known respectfully as Old Li, who was removed from his post in the 1980s for supporting experimental art. Wang Qingsong himself acts the part of the artist. [81 words]\r\n\r\nC-type print\r\nCollection Joy of Giving Something, Inc.","date":{"text":"09/2005","earliest":"2005-09-01","latest":"2005-09-30"}},{"text":"This photograph reworks The Night Revels of Han Xizai, a famous Chinese scroll painting made in the 10th century AD. According to legend, it was made for the emperor, who had ordered a court artist to infiltrate the parties of an official he suspected of conspiracy. Here the official is portrayed by Li Xianting, a leading Chinese art critic, who was removed from his post in the 1980s for supporting experimental art. Wang Qingsong acts the part of the artist.","date":{"text":"April 2009-April 2010","earliest":"2009-04-01","latest":"2010-04-30"}},{"text":"Label for 'Making It Up: Photographic Fictions' (3 May 2013 - 12 January 2014):\r\n\r\nWang Qingsong (born 1966)\r\nNight Revels of Lao Li\r\n2000\r\n\r\nThis photograph reworks The Night Revels of Han Xizai, a Chinese scroll painting from the 10th century. According to legend, the painting was made for the emperor by a court artist employed to spy on an official. Here the official is portrayed by Li Xianting, a Chinese art critic removed from his post in the 1980s for supporting experimental art. The photographer acts the part of the artist.\r\n\r\nC-type print\r\nMuseum no. E.557-2008\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["E.557-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"557","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"ed.20","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2010EJ0987"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-20","recordCreationDate":"2008-08-08","availableToBook":true}}