By Hugh Laughlin
In 1621 when Sheng Mao-Yeh painted the "Orchid Pavilion", the celebration of the annual spring purification festival, it was a tradition centuries old. It is not known exactly when the tradition began, but it was celebrated at least as early as the middle of the Chou dynasty (770-481). This is not the first time a painting of this subject was painted either. Sometime in his life(1049-1106)Li Kung-lin painted the first known picture of the orchid pavilion ceremony.
Sheng Mao-Yeh painted the ceremony of the Orchid Pavilion in one long picture on a paper scroll. In the beginning of the picture a scholar is sitting in a gazebo-like structure with several scholars, writing on a scroll.
Behind the little gazebo is a small winding river that the eye follows through the rest of the scroll. Further upstream from the gazebo, on the bank of the river, while the scholars play games you can see their servants far upstream setting wine-filled bamboo cups to float down the river on leaves. The loser of these games is seen swimming out to get a cup and then he drinks it.
Just as the date of when the "Orchid Pavilion" was first painted is not known, so is the history of Sheng Mao-yeh's painting. The only thing that is known of the painting is that in 1897 it was in Japan while Tessai Tomioka sketched it.