An extremely fine and rare Imperial embroidered yellow silk satin panel - Yongzheng/Qianlong period (1723-1795)

Comprised of nine narrow panels exquisitely embroidered in satin stitch with a continuos idyllic scene of eight female immortals engaged in various leisurely pursuits in the Kunlun Mountains, the scene set with three pavilions nestled within the fantastic landscape dotted with jutting ornamental rock formations, meandering streams, and various delicately rendered trees, including the fabled peach tree laden with the fruit of immortality, each immortal depicted wearing a feathered cape or apron, one shown in a log boat with a vase containing an arrangement of lotus at the bow beneath a canopy, two immortals above traversing a natural foot bridge, one carrying a hoe, the other a basket of lingzhi, with a mythical lion trailing behind them, the other immortals also in the company of mythical lions, all reserved on a brilliant Imperial yellow silk satin ground
47 x 100½ in. (119.4 x 255.3 cm.); 56¾ x 108¾ in. (144.1 x 276.2 cm.) overall with mount - Estimate: $300,000-500,000

Provenance: Sotheby's, Belgravia, early 1980s.

Notes: The furniture and interiors used by members of the Qing court were also dressed with textiles to reflect status and prestige. Seating furniture was supplied with cushions; tables draped with silk frontals. Depending on the degree of formality of the event, a dais was set on the axis with the door where a throne was placed on a carpet or floor covering and backed by a large ornamental screen.

These screens were made in a variety of styles. Some were made en suite with the throne and foot stool, such as the elaborately carved red lacquer or zitan hardwood thrones with gilt decoration used by the emperors. See Hu Desheng, Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Ming Qing Gongting Jiaju Daguan (Furniture of the Ming and Qing Palaces as Collected in the Palace Museum), 2 volumes, Beijing, 2006. Other screens feature panels with paintings or textile inserts (Fig. 1). These can have single, triple, five, seven or nine panels, op.cit., pp. 334, 337 and 340.

This embroidered satin panel has been sewn together from lengths designed for a nine-panel screen. The outer two lengths are considerably narrower, a feature noted in several surviving palace screens. Although drawn as a continuous scene and now stitched together, each panel was embroidered individually up to the selvage edges of the cloth but not across the vertical seams. The landscape within the 'Abode of the Immortals in the Kunlun mountains to the west of China' features a stream meandering through a garden with fantastic layered rocks and three pavilions. Eight maidens tend to an equal number of lions. At the center and immediately to the right, one of a pair of women holds a baby lion while the other tends to wrapping a brocade ball with ribbons. Further to the right a maiden offers a ball to the mother lion with a cub on her back. At the left another maiden rows a rustic root boat with an awning protecting a vase of lotus and a peony and lingzhi fungus, puns for peace, harmony, prosperity and long life.

The quality of the satin-stitch embroidery is extraordinarily fine, reflecting the highest standards maintained for imperial orders. The yellow satin ground would have announced the imperial status of the room's occupant; the informal design without dragons would have indicated a non-court function within one of the private rooms of the palace. The allusion to immortality, hence a wish for continued long life, allows us to speculate that this textile might have been created for the Qianlong emperor's mother, the Dowager Empress Xiao Sheng Xian (1669-1777), with whom he was particularly close and visited daily.

Christie's. The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume And Textiles From The Linda Wrigglesworth Collection. 19 March 2008, 10:00 am 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York