2-739-369 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 1800s. Matsumura Goshun was trained in literati art by Yosa Buson and Maruyama Okyo. Here, he depicted "Oath of the Peach Garden," a scene from the classic Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms . The three warriors Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei became sworn brothers in a ceremony amid peach blossom trees. Matsumura’s painting follows the example of Buson’s Evening Banquet at the Peach and Pear Blossom Garden , inspired by a 16th-century Li Bai poem.