The Weaver Girl, by Zhang Ling

"A young woman holding a shuttle in her hand stands knee-deep in mist gazing out in expectation, as a light wind ruffles the scarves and tassles of her dress. The inscription tells us the painting was done in early autumn in the year 1504. This is enough to identify her as the Weaver Girl from the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, who were also the stars Altair and Vega. In tradition, they met and fell in love; but, carried away by the romance, she neglected her duty of weaving clouds. Her father, the lord of the heavens, punished them by creating the River of Heaven, or Milky Way, across the middle of the sky, separating the two stars forever. However, on one night of the year in early autumn – on the seventh of the seventh month in the lunar calendar – magpies are said to form a bridge across the sky allowing them to meet. This festival is celebrated rather like Valentine’s Day in the west. Here, the Weaver Girl gazes with longing across the sky hoping to catch sight of her lover approaching."

—Chester Beatty Library