This scroll, a 19th Century copy – [the original by ZHOU Chen (1460–1535) a Chinese painter active during the middle of the Ming Dynasty] – depicts an ancient Chinese legend concerning Xiao Shi, a famous musician who loved to play the Paixiao, a kind of flute. Its melodious tune attracted cranes and peacocks to dance around him. 

Duke Mu had a lovely daughter, Nong Yu, who admired Xiao Shi very much. She played another kind of flute–the Sheng. Duke Mu married his daughter to Xiao Shi and build them a house known as the Phoenix Terrace. 

The husband and wife played so beautifully that their music attracted the Phoenixes. One day a golden Dragon and a purple Phoenix arrived from Heaven. Nong Yu sat on the Phoenix and Xiao Shi rode the Dragon, and they were swept up into the sky. When people passed the Phoenix Terrace they could always hear their melodious music.

Here in the painting, we see them in the sky playing their instruments and seated on the mythological beasts–the Phoenix and the Dragon.

On the Phoenix Terrace Duke Mu looks up at his daughter.

Dimensions–Painting: 42 x 122  

                     Overall: 56 x 190 

Scroll comes in custom wooden box. Also comes with scroll weights (pictured–Japanese) in custom wooden box. The right-hand wooden boss is missing.