Imperial Maids in Wang Shu Kingdom

Imperial Maids in Wang Shu Kingdom

By Tang Yin  Ming Dynasty

The painting was one of Tang Yin’s representative lady paintings, which depicts a story in the imperial palace of Shu kingdom. The maids referred to the girls who served the emperor by entertainments. 

In this painting collected by the Palace Museum are four slender imperial maids in gorgeous Taoist attire. Tang Yin concentrated his efforts on portraying their plump faces and graceful figure. White powders were applied to their foreheads, noses and chins so as to differentiate these parts from the flatter parts of the faces and to represent the three-dimensional effect. This kind of painting technique was called the “method of three whites”.