The Emperor Ming Huang’s Journey into Shu                      Huizong, Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk

Both these paintings are mo fang, or exact copies, of famous Tang originals by Northern Sung artists. The act of copying earlier works was a sign of the veneration of the earlier Tang painting academy. The subject of both works is the court—in the one case the fugitive emperor and in the other elite palace women engaged in appropriate activities to their social role. Since the Northern Sung were attempting to revive the imperial power of the previous era, the careers of artists who could demonstrate skills comparable to those of the Tang were insured by institutional patronage. Huizong was himself a Northern Sung emperor whose visual art collection far outstripped his abilities as a political administrator.