Two Chinese women float against a warm, golden background, as if suspended in a ceremonial dream. At left, Empress Liu is shown with an ivory-toned, stylized face and her black hair is gathered into a smooth, rounded style and crowned by an oversized pink peony bloom. She wears layered deep red robes with soft green sleeves and her hands tucked in a composed, inward pose. At right, Empress Dou turns slightly toward her, her expression calm and distant. Her hair rises into a tall, dark arrangement topped with a rich burgundy flower as a long pale ribbon trails in the air. She wears a patterned golden top and a darker skirt, adorned with clusters of blossoms that spill into the space between them. Green-blue ribbons loop and curl across the scene like wind-blown silk banners. Below and between the women, a golden phoenix spreads its wing in sweeping arcs of feathered lines, while a white crane glides low at the edge. Both birds are surrounded by scattered petals and dense bouquets of red, pink, yellow, and white flowers. Behind the painting's beauty is a story about power, vulnerability, and historical disappearance. In Chinese artist Xiang Li’s (李湘) telling, Empress Liu and Empress Dou (both connected to Emperor Ruizong) were accused of witchcraft and killed in 693 wither their bodies hidden and never recovered. The violence is echoed by the painting’s sense of weightless drifting. The phoenix (dynastic harmony) and the crane (longevity & transcendence) become more than decorative symbols. They are a wish for restoration, dignity, and endurance beyond the court’s intrigues. The peony (wealth, honor, and feminine prestige) crowns Liu like a fragile mandate. Li frames them not as footnotes, but as central actors: “Each empress I paint carries a story of resilience, wisdom, and strength.” The floral abundance is a memorial insistence that even when names are contested, erased, or buried, their presence can still be made visible, luminous, and impossible to overlook.
"Chinese Empress Liu and Empress Dou, Tang Dynasty" by 李湘 Xiang Li (Chinese) - Watercolor on silk / 2015 - New England Botanic Garden (Boylston, Massachusetts) #WomenInArt #XiangLi #李湘 #NewEnglandBotanicGarden #ChineseArtist #artText #art #BlueskyArt #ChineseArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists
