Khoo Seok Wan commissioned the Teochew artist Yu Tao (also known as Yu Yuncha) in October 1898 to create this painting. We can associate this as a portrait of Khoo, or an imagined persona that reveals his inner emotions and state of mind. After the failed Hundred Days’ Reform (also known as Wuxu Reform) in China in September 1898, Khoo would often seek solace by drinking under the moon, yielding to the comforts of poetry, music and wine. Once Yu Tao completed the painting, Khoo invited local and overseas literati to compose poems in response to it. Amongst these like-minded friends were well-known calligraphers such as Lin Zhizeng 林祗曾, Kang Fengji 康逢吉 and Li Jichen 李季琛.This work is an exemplary example of early migrant artists who keep to the literati traditions with influence by the Shanghai School, which carry a sense of inventive brushworks that pushes away from traditional boundaries. They also provide insights of local networks and art activities of a group of migrant artists who follows the traditional literati tradition and also illuminate relationships amongst art and cultural networks between Southern China and Singapore.
