The formative context and art historical value of Wen Zhengming’s <Tea Gathering in Huishan>

This study examines the social-psychological and artistic development of Wen Zhengming’s painting, <Tea Gathering in Huishan (Huishan Chahui Tu)>. Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), a leading mid-Ming literati painter created this work in 1518 to commemorate a tea gathering at Mount Hui in Wuxi during the Qingming Festival with Cai Yu and five other peers. The work represents high art-historical value as it exemplifies Ming literati art, uniting poetry, calligraphy, and painting. This paper aims to explore its format, composition, distinctive style, and the socio-psychological background of its creation, including the travel routes of the participants. In doing so, this study argues that the painting reinterprets the blue-and-green landscape tradition, merging figure and landscape to convey the xiao qing (small sentiments) of literati life and the ways in which the Ming scholars sought spiritual fellowship and an ideal way of life through tea gatherings despite repeated examination failures and political marginalization.