《红楼梦》
收藏集
Every named character in China’s greatest novel, painted by hand on rice paper with Chinese watercolor. Ten years of work by Xiang Li, the first Chinese artist to finish all of them.
- Characters
- 413
- Years painting
- 10
- Completed
- 1975–85
- Chapters
- 120
The Twelve Beauties of Jinling
Baoyu falls asleep and reads twelve verses that tell him how twelve women’s lives will end. None of it has happened yet, and he does not understand a word of it.
002 林黛玉
“The Debt of Tears”
003 薛宝钗
“The Gold and the Jade”
004 贾元春
“That Place Where One Cannot See People”
006 史湘云
“Asleep on a Bed of Peonies”
007 妙玉
“The Jade That Fell in the Mud”
008 贾迎春
“The Girl Who Would Not Ask”
005 贾探春
“The Kite With the Thread Cut”
009 贾惜春
“Alone Beside the Cold Lamp”
010 王熙凤
“The Phoenix on the Iceberg”
011 贾巧姐
“The One Debt Repaid”
012 李纨
“Splendour Come Late”
013 秦可卿
“The Trouble Began in Ning”
荣国府
The Rong-guo House
30 portraits
Grandmother Jia sits at the head of a table that seats four generations. Below her, Wang Xifeng keeps the books, the keys and the secrets. The house runs on her competence and comes apart partly on her debts.
001 贾宝玉
“The Stone That Wanted to See the World”
004 贾元春
“That Place Where One Cannot See People”
005 贾探春
“The Kite With the Thread Cut”
008 贾迎春
“The Girl Who Would Not Ask”
010 王熙凤
“The Phoenix on the Iceberg”
011 贾巧姐
“The One Debt Repaid”
012 李纨
“Splendour Come Late”
014 贾母
“The Last Authority”
015 王夫人
“The Rosary and the Purge”
031 贾政
“Correct in Everything but His Son”
032 贾赦
“The Man Who Wanted the Fans”
033 贾琏
“Second Master, and No Match for Her”
036 贾环
“The Other Son”
037 贾兰
“The Orchid in the Pot”
038 贾珠
“The Brother Who Was Already Dead”
043 贾瑞
“The Man Who Looked at the Front”
045 贾代儒
“The Schoolmaster”
051 邢夫人
“The Errand She Was Sent On”
054 赵姨娘
“The Mother Her Daughter Would Not Claim”
055 周姨娘
“The Other One”
060 贾敷
“Dead at Eight or Nine”
063 贾代善
“The Grandfather Baoyu Resembles”
075 贾琼
“A Name in the Roll of Kinsmen”
078 贾菖
“Keeper of the Fire Basin”
079 贾菱
“The Other Half of a Pair”
080 贾萍
“Duckweed”
087 贾菌
“The Boy Who Threw the Book-Box”
088 贾芸
“The Nephew Who Made Himself Useful”
089 贾芹
“Given Charge of the Temple”
090 贾荇
“A Name in the Line”
宁国府
The Ning-guo House
12 portraits
The senior branch, and the worse-behaved one. Jia Zhen buries a daughter-in-law with more ceremony than the family can afford. Years later, when the censors arrive, the funeral is the first thing they ask about.
009 贾惜春
“Alone Beside the Cold Lamp”
013 秦可卿
“The Trouble Began in Ning”
025 尤二姐
“Swallowed Gold”
026 尤三姐
“Five Years, and Then the Sword”
034 贾珍
“What Jiao Da Shouted in the Courtyard”
044 贾敬
“Gold Swallowed, Cinnabar Eaten”
052 尤氏
“Mistress of a House She Cannot Rule”
057 尤老娘
“The Mother Who Slept Through It”
059 贾代化
“The Name on the Certificate”
061 贾蔷
“The Manager of the Pear Tree Court”
106 贾蓉之妻
“The Woman Who Replaced Qin Keqing”
179 银蝶
“Silver Butterfly”
四大家族
Wang, Shi, Xue & Lin
21 portraits
Four families who married into one another for three generations and covered for one another in court. Daiyu arrives from the south with no money and no mother. Baochai arrives with both, and the trouble starts there.
002 林黛玉
“The Debt of Tears”
003 薛宝钗
“The Gold and the Jade”
006 史湘云
“Asleep on a Bed of Peonies”
016 香菱
“One Root with the Lotus”
027 薛宝琴
“Red Plum in the Snow”
028 邢岫烟
“Poor, and Not Sorry About It”
029 李纹
“Water Flowing Cold by the Stone”
030 李绮
“The Firefly Was Grass Once”
039 薛蟠
“The Oaf King”
046 林如海
“The Last of the Lins”
053 薛姨妈
“Kind Words, and What They Cost”
064 贾敏
“The Mother Who Is Already Gone”
102 夏金桂
“The Bowl She Made”
103 李婶娘
“The Aunt Who Came to Stay”
104 娄氏
“The Widow with One Son”
107 王子腾
“The Prop That Fell”
109 王仁
“Forgetting Benevolence”
111 史鼎
“The Uncle Who Was Posted Away”
112 薛蝌
“The Cousin Who Could Be Relied On”
385 邢忠
“The Poor Relation”
386 邢德全
“The Idiot Uncle”
大观园
Prospect Garden
85 portraits
Cao Xueqin gave the maids the same interior lives he gave their mistresses. Xiren is patient and Qingwen is not, and that difference decides which of them survives the year. Eighty-five of them are painted here.
017 晴雯
“Clear Moon, Bright Cloud”
018 袭人
“Vainly Gentle, Vainly Yielding”
019 平儿
“Peace in a House at War”
020 鸳鸯
“She Cut Her Hair and Kept Her Word”
021 紫鹃
“The Lie She Told to Force the Question”
022 麝月
“The Last One Left in the Room”
023 司棋
“She Would Not Be Talked Out of It”
024 小红
“The Girl Who Gave Up a Word”
092 喜鸾
“The Poor Cousin at the Birthday”
093 四姐儿
“Fourth Girl”
096 秋桐
“The Borrowed Sword”
097 嫣红
“The Answer to a Refusal”
098 翠云
“A Name on the List”
099 佩凤
“The Swing in the Mourning Garden”
100 偕鸾
“The Other One”
118 琥珀
“Trusted With Other People's Words”
119 翡翠
“A Name on the Roster”
120 玻璃
“A Name Made of Glass”
121 珍珠
“The Name Xiren Wore First”
122 鹦鹉
“The Other Parrot”
123 鹦哥
“Before She Was Zijuan”
125 彩鸾
“One of a Matched Pair”
126 绣鸾
“The Embroidered Phoenix”
127 绣凤
“Third of the Pattern”
128 文官
“Leader of the Twelve”
129 秋纹
“The Girl Who Told the Story About the Dresses”
130 碧痕
“The Two-Hour Bath”
131 檀云
“A Name Inside a Poem”
132 绮霰
“A Name and Its Variant”
133 茜雪
“Dismissed Over a Cup of Tea”
136 蕙香
“Renamed Number Four”
137 佳蕙
“A Double Handful of Coins”
138 坠儿
“The Stolen Bracelet”
139 良儿
“Remembered Only for the Theft”
140 春燕
“The Swallow of the Willow Bank”
141 柳五儿
“The Girl Accused Over the Poria Powder”
142 万儿
“Named for a Brocade in a Dream”
143 雪雁
“The Yangzhou Child”
144 春纤
“The Second Maid”
145 莺儿
“The Hands That Plait”
146 文杏
“Baochai's Other Maid”
147 靛儿
“The Girl Who Asked About a Fan”
148 臻儿
“Caltrop's Own Maid”
151 小螺
“The Grass-Fighting Afternoon”
152 宝蟾
“Precious Toad”
153 小舍儿
“The Errand”
154 丰儿
“Second in the Room”
155 善姐
“The Cold Tray”
156 彩明
“The One Who Could Read”
157 金钏
“The Well”
158 玉钏
“The Sister Who Stayed”
159 彩云
“The Rose Essence”
160 彩霞
“Rose Cloud, Bargained Away”
161 小霞
“The Younger Sister”
162 绣橘
“The One Who Fought”
163 莲花儿
“Sent for the Egg Custard”
164 侍书
“Attending Books”
165 翠墨
“The Note That Started the Club”
166 小蝉
“Mid-Errand”
167 入画
“Entering the Picture”
168 彩屏
“The Painted Screen”
169 彩儿
“A Name on the Roll”
170 素云
“Plain Cloud”
171 碧月
“Jade Moon”
172 翠缕
“The Yin and the Yang”
175 小鹊
“Little Magpie”
176 小吉祥儿
“Little Luck”
177 瑞珠
“She Would Not Outlive Her”
178 宝珠
“The Daughter Who Volunteered”
237 多姑娘
“The Cook's Wife”
278 芳官
“Twice Renamed, Then Shaved”
279 蕊官
“The Second Marriage”
280 藕官
“Paper Money in the Garden”
281 葵官
“Only a Hero Shows His True Colours”
282 豆官
“Popped Beans”
283 艾官
“The One Who Told”
284 茄官
“Old Women's Roles”
285 龄官
“The Character Written in the Dirt”
286 宝官
“Young Male Leads”
287 玉官
“Principal Female Roles”
289 菂官
“Mourned With Paper Money”
297 沁香
“One of the Bought Girls”
334 云儿
“One Afternoon's Voice”
392 玉爱
“Darling”
398 雏鸾
“The Heroine Grandmother Jia Refused”
仆役
Below Stairs
41 portraits
Stewards, wet-nurses, page-boys and bailiffs. Wu Jinxiao walks a month through snow to deliver a rent that has already shrunk, and Jia Zhen complains anyway. The people who see everything are recorded here too.
182 茗烟
“Tealeaf”
183 锄药
“Hoeing the Herbs”
184 扫红
“Sweeping the Red”
186 墨雨
“Ink Rain”
187 引泉
“Four Boys on a Roof”
192 李贵
“The Deer and the Duckweed”
197 兴儿
“The Page Who Talks”
199 昭儿
“The Man Who Rode Back from the South”
200 喜儿
“Drunk in the Kitchen”
203 钱槐
“The Page with Money”
206 李嬷嬷
“Nannie Li”
208 赵嬷嬷
“Nannie Zhao”
209 宋嬷嬷
“The Errand She Argued Against”
213 周瑞家的
“The Twelve Palace Flowers”
214 林之孝家的
“The Night Rounds”
215 赖大家的
“The Steward's Wife”
216 王善保家的
“The Slap”
217 吴新登媳妇
“The Question About the Funeral Money”
218 旺儿媳妇
“The Money Put Out at Interest”
219 张材家的
“The Tally for the Carriages”
226 鲍二家的
“Overheard”
227 柳家的
“The Kitchen Accused”
231 费婆子
“Trading on Her Age”
232 夏婆子
“The Pointing Finger”
243 赖大
“The Keys of the House”
244 赖二
“The Second Brother”
245 赖升
“The Warning Before Xifeng”
246 赖尚荣
“Born Out of Bondage”
247 赖嬷嬷
“Nannie Lai”
248 林之孝
“Deaf as Heaven”
249 周瑞
“The Name on the Other Side of the Door”
254 俞禄
“The Bill After the Funeral”
256 来旺
“The Errand She Could Not Put in Writing”
263 金彩
“The Father in Nanjing”
264 金文翔
“The Brother Who Carried the Message”
265 焦大
“The Drunk Who Says It Out Loud”
267 包勇
“Sent from a House That Had Already Fallen”
268 乌进孝
“The Rents Came Short Again”
269 鲍二
“The Husband Nobody Asked”
272 多浑虫
“The Man Who Noticed Nothing”
273 潘又安
“Two Coffins”
僧道尼
Monks, Nuns & Taoists
14 portraits
A scabby-headed monk and a lame Taoist walk into the story on the first page and walk out with it on the last. Miaoyu keeps a hermitage inside the garden and throws away a cup after Granny Liu drinks from it.
007 妙玉
“The Jade That Fell in the Mud”
290 净虚
“Three Thousand Taels”
291 智善
“The Other Novice”
292 智能
“The Novice Who Ran”
293 智通
“The Nun Who Took Fangguan”
294 圆信
“The Nun of Dizang”
295 大了
“The Slip at Scattering Flowers”
296 色空
“Form and Emptiness”
299 马道婆
“The Paper Figures”
300 张道士
“The Duke's Stand-in”
400 癞头和尚
“He Arrives at the Hinges”
401 跛足道人
“The Won-Done Song”
557 文妙真人
“The Last Name Baoyu Is Given”
908 钟情大士
“She Whose Whole Heart Is Given”
官宦王侯
Officials, Nobles & the Court
25 portraits
Princes, eunuchs, physicians and examination officials. Dai Quan sells a military rank over tea and calls it a favour. The machinery that raises the family to an imperial marriage takes the house apart in a single morning.
041 柳湘莲
“The Cold Second Gentleman”
042 蒋玉菡
“The Scarlet Sash”
047 甄宝玉
“The Same Face, the Other Answer”
048 贾雨村
“False Words in a Country Village”
050 北静王
“The Beads Off His Own Wrist”
117 甄应嘉
“The Rehearsal”
302 张友士
“The Pulse That Told the Truth”
303 王济仁
“The House Doctor”
304 胡君荣
“The Wrong Prescription”
305 鲍太医
“A Surname and an Office”
309 詹光
“Chief of the Hangers-On”
310 单聘仁
“Good at It”
312 程日兴
“The Painter of Beauties”
317 戴权
“Great Power”
318 夏秉忠
“The Decree at the Gate”
346 西平郡王
“The Prince Who Held Back”
350 南安太妃
“The Great Lady Who Came to Look”
352 长史官
“The Prince's Errand”
370 冯紫英
“The Friend Outside the Gate”
373 孙绍祖
“The Zhongshan Wolf”
375 云光
“The Favour at Chang'an”
376 傅试
“The Brother Who Waited Too Long”
377 傅秋芳
“Admired Unseen”
378 李衙内
“The Second Suitor”
559 赵守备
“The Betrothal Given Back”
乡野亲眷
Country Folk & Poor Relations
26 portraits
Granny Liu comes to the great house three times — once to beg, once to be laughed at, and once as the only person left who can help. The novel settles its moral arithmetic through a farm woman.
040 秦钟
“Seed of Passion”
049 甄士隐
“True Events Concealed”
056 刘姥姥
“The Only Debt Anyone Repaid”
113 封氏
“The Wife Who Was Left”
114 封肃
“Custom, By Name”
115 霍启
“Calamity Begins”
116 娇杏
“One Backward Glance”
270 何三
“He Knew Which Wall Was Low”
277 张德辉
“The Road South”
301 王一贴
“The Cure for Jealousy”
306 刘铁嘴
“Iron Mouth”
307 毛半仙
“Half an Immortal”
321 王狗儿
“Winter Coming”
322 刘氏
“A Surname and a Suffix”
323 板儿
“The Fruit Traded Away”
324 青儿
“The Sister Who Stays Home”
326 冯渊
“Meeting Injustice”
327 倪二
“The Drunken Diamond”
328 卜世仁
“Not a Human Being”
331 石呆子
“The Twenty Fans”
340 张华
“The Betrothal Bought Back”
342 冷子兴
“The Genealogy Told at an Inn”
345 门子
“The Gourd Monk”
379 金哥
“Three Thousand Taels”
389 秦业
“Twenty-Four Taels”
390 金荣
“The Boy Who Started It”
太虚幻境
The Land of Illusion
8 portraits
Before there is a family there is a stone left over from mending the sky, and a flower that owes a debt of water. Painting these meant inventing them. There is no costume record for a goddess.
名录之外
Beyond the Roster
109 portraits
Characters the novel names once and never returns to — a wet-nurse, a page, a physician called in at midnight. Xiang Li painted them at the same scale as the principals.
101 文花
“The Voice at the Moon Feast”
149 同喜
“Half of a Matched Pair”
150 同贵
“The Second Name”
174 抱琴
“Carrying the Zither”
180 炒豆儿
“Fried Bean”
181 小鸠儿
“Little Dove”
185 扫花
“Sweeping the Blossom”
188 挑云
“Lifting the Clouds”
189 伴鹤
“The Crane That Is Not There”
190 双瑞
“Half of a Matched Pair”
191 双寿
“The Other Half”
193 王荣
“A Name on the Escort List”
194 张若锦
“Three Characters and No Line”
195 赵亦华
“Listed Once”
196 钱启
“Fifth on the List”
202 庆儿
“Sent, and Sent Again”
207 王嬷嬷
“Nannie Wang”
221 郑华家的
“One of the Five”
222 吴兴家的
“One of the Five”
223 来喜家的
“A Name on the Roster”
225 秦显家的
“One Day in the Kitchen”
228 单大娘
“On the Gate”
230 金文翔媳妇
“Sent to Persuade”
233 何婆
“Chunyan's Mother”
234 祝妈
“The Woman Who Knows Bamboo”
235 田妈
“The Crops at Sweet-rice Village”
236 叶妈
“Vouched For”
238 璜大奶奶
“The Complaint She Swallowed”
240 杨氏
“The Widow Who Asked”
242 坠儿的娘
“At the Door of Green Delights”
251 戴良
“Large Measure”
255 王信
“The Hand That Carries the Silver”
266 李十儿
“The Gatekeeper Who Knew the Rates”
275 玉柱儿
“Named After Someone Else”
298 鹤仙
“The Crane Immortal”
308 山子野
“The Man Who Drew the Garden”
313 胡斯来
“The Name That Says It”
314 王尔调
“The Go-Between”
315 嵇好古
“Fond of Antiquity”
316 詹子亮
“Ruled Lines and Towers”
329 银姐
“The Errand Staged for a Guest”
330 方椿
“The Man Who Supplies the Garden”
335 吴良
“Evidence for Sale”
336 张三
“Killed Over the Wine”
337 张王氏
“The Charge She Brought”
339 张二
“The Uncle at the Inquest”
343 张如圭
“The Man Who Brought the News”
380 赵全
“The Warrant at the Gate”
387 夏三
“The Adopted Brother”
388 夏奶奶
“The Osmanthus Widow”
500 周奶妈
“Two Days' Worth of Clothes”
501 太平知县
“Several Thousand Taels”
502 五嫂子
“Fifth Brother's Wife”
503 彩嫔
“The Women Allowed to Touch Her”
504 薛蟠之子
“An Heir in One Clause”
505 拐子
“Sold Twice”
506 张员外
“The Father Who Took the Better Offer”
507 王爷官史
“The Weight of the Room”
508 锦乡侯诰命
“Her Husband's Rank, Wearing a Face”
509 贾家近支宗族
“Ranked by Generation, Silent”
510 黑儿
“Accused of Nothing”
511 黄巾力士
“Get Out”
512 宝玉之子
“The Last Thing Promised”
513 北静王府长史
“The Man Who Says "Congratulations”
514 王子腾之女
“A Wedding Someone Else Has to Run”
515 太妃贵妃
“The Weather Inside the Palace”
516 迎春乳母
“The Gold Phoenix, Pawned”
517 二丫头
“The Spinning Wheel”
518 张妈
“Named Once, in a Letter”
519 可人
“A Name in a List of the Dead”
520 贾瑞之母
“A Mother the Book Does Not Give Him”
521 马贩子
“Where to Find Ni Er”
522 栓儿
“The Pheasant”
523 临昌伯
“A Title at the Left-Hand Table”
524 风水先生
“Choosing the Day and the Ground”
525 小丑
“The Nine-Year-Old Who Looked Like Someone”
526 花神
“The God the Flowers Are Owed”
527 王妃诰命
“Rank, Arriving in Sedan Chairs”
528 彩霞之母
“The Mother Who Said Yes”
529 胡氏
“What the Free Schooling Costs”
530 杏花神
“A God Invented in One Breath”
531 慧娘
“Dead at Eighteen, Priceless After”
532 昭容
“The Office That Carries the Word”
533 北静王妃
“The Second-Highest Seat”
534 花自芳
“Xiren's Brother, Fetching and Delivering”
535 唱小曲的
“Hired for the Evening”
536 林四娘
“The General in the Inner Chambers”
537 雨村之子
“One Clause of a Sentence”
538 赵公子
“The Boy Who Went Into the Water”
539 龙钟老僧
“The Answer That Was Not to the Question”
540 来升媳妇
“Made Answerable for Everyone”
541 甄夫人
“The Mother of the Other Baoyu”
542 李二
“The Witness Who Changed His Mind”
543 甄大小姐
“Spoken Of, Never Seen”
544 甄三小姐
“The One Who Travelled”
545 忠义亲王老千岁
“The Coffin He Never Came For”
546 毕知庵
“The Doctor from the Broken Temple”
547 临昌伯诰命
“A Seat at the Lower Left”
548 真真国女孩
“The Girl Who Wrote in Chinese”
549 周瑞之女
“The Favour Asked in a Passage”
550 张小姐
“The Match That Was Refused”
551 玉柱媳妇
“Talking Her Way Out of It”
552 岫烟之母
“The Poor Relation's Mother”
553 王子腾夫人
“The Uncle's Wife”
554 甄二小姐
“The Better of the Two”
555 贾琼之母
“Brought Her Daughter”
556 芙蓉花神
“The Post Qingwen Was Given”
558 彩儿娘
“Sent Out of the Garden”
“Thirty-two sheets with a job where the name should be”
Questions
Who wrote Dream of the Red Chamber?
Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹) wrote the first eighty chapters and died before finishing. The last forty are attributed to Gao E (高鹗), who prepared the first printed edition in 1791.
How many characters are in Dream of the Red Chamber?
Four hundred and thirteen are named. Xiang Li painted all of them between 1975 and 1985 — the first Chinese artist to complete the full set.
Who are the Twelve Beauties of Jinling?
Twelve women whose fates Jia Baoyu reads in a dream in chapter five, before any of them have happened. Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai share the first verse.
What is Chinese rice paper painting?
Pigment applied by hand onto xuan paper — rice paper — which takes ink and colour instantly and forgives nothing. This collection is Chinese watercolor in the gongbi tradition of fine-line figure painting.
Can I see these paintings in person?
Yes. The originals travel to museums and institutions across the United States.
Bring the Red Chamber home
Canvas prints, scarves, puzzles and more — from $14.
Two full-color hardcovers — 217 empresses, 413 painted characters.
Questions? Write to xiangliart@gmail.com