The Immortal Qingao Riding a Fish (Qingao chengli tu 琴高乘鯉圖)

Strong brush lines outline the body of a man riding a large fish, which except for its eye is formed by ink wash without outlines. The body of the fish intersects with swirling waves, and at bottom left are bamboo sprays. The painting illustrates the story of Qin Gao riding on a carp, as related in his biography in the Liexian Zhuan列仙傳 (Biographies of Exemplary Immortals; attributed to Liu Xiang ). A native of the state of Zhao趙 during the Warring States period (ca. 470–221 BCE), for a time he served as retainer for Kang, the king of Song宋康王. He studied the arts of two famous immortals, Juanzi涓子 and the even better known Pengzu彭祖, then wandered for 200 years in (or between) Jizhou冀州 (northeast China) and Zhuojun涿郡 (in present-day Hebei), before jumping into Lake Zhuo涿水, from which he later emerged riding on a carp. The original biography in Qin Shi may be the only place he is associated with the qin instrument: Qin Gao was a man of Zhao. Skilled at playing the qin, he became a retainer with King Kang of Song. He was skilled in the arts of Juanzi and Peng (Zu). After wandering for 200 years Zhuozhou district of Jizhou, he left and jumped into Lake Zhuo to look for dragons, making arrangements with his disciples for when he would return. On that day, they should all fast and be clean, waiting by (the water's) edge and organizing a shrine. After Qin Gao came out riding on a red carp, he sat down in the shrine and multitudes came to see him. He remained a month, then returned to the water. Liu Xiang praised him, saying, Peaceful and harmonious Qin Gao, provided music as a Song court official... .... 琴高晏晏,司樂宋宮。 離世孤逸,浮沈涿中。 出躍赬鱗,入澡清中。 是任水化,其樂無窮。