This paper explores painting of court ladies from the T ang dynasty, closely examining its pictorial space, mode of representation, and production and cultural consumption. Particular attention will be paid to the mid-eighth century and subsequent decades, the period which witnessed a full-fledged popularity of the genre, and to a thorough analysis of how men of letter and women of entertainment viewed and enjoyed it. A further analysis will be on chracteristics and functions of the painting of ladies that was on public display, aiming to illuminate underlying ideologies. Female figures of tomb paintings, for example, were placed in an inner space of a house, which reflects a dominant Confucian doctrine of “distinction between genders” that demarcates the inner/outer or woman/man boundaries. Even though the T ang dynasty is referred to as an open society having imposed less confinements on women than any other periods, the images of women cling to a conservative prototype Yaotiao shunü or lady of grace and virtues. It is true that a painting like Court Ladies of Guo on a Spring Excursion , which portrays women sitting astride horses, is extant. However, the scroll should be considered an exception; Rather many other surviving examples of the genre embody men’s gaze and desire. In the T ang dynasty, economic prosperity led cities to grow and a culture of entertainment and banquets to flourish. A sub-culture of courtesan’s chambers also thrived in the cosmopolitan milieu, forming a liaison with the literati class that had been surging to elite status since the establishment of the civil service examination. The bond served as a powerhouse in the development of the painting of court ladies. The professional ladies and the lettered elite were main audiences, together appreciating or commenting on the noble ladies— depicted on screens or banners—in an open space such as a courtesan chamber or a banquet hall. It seems plausible therefore that male and female desires were embedded alike in the paining; Given the nature of the latter’s profession, however, the desires of courtesans would have been subordinate to those of men. Interestingly, the painting of court ladies carries didactic and edifying functions even when it merely represents a beauty. Since the moralistic denotation was in line with a Han dynasty tradition of painting chaste ladies, it should be assessed that the painting of court ladies from the T ang dynasty was not able to go outside the purview of Confucian ideaologies. Nor was it even when a viewer saw nobody but a Chinese belle.