Not on display

Scroll

Scroll
1894 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
China (made)

This is a scroll from a set of four which appears to have a connection with the Dowager Empress Cixi (1835–1908) of China. Like the other three scrolls, it has her seal at the centre top. The embroidery shows a red-crested crane and peony flowers, associated with a long life and royalty respectively. All four scrolls are likely to have been embroidered from paintings made by the empress herself and embroidered by court artisans for her all-important 60th birthday. The scrolls might have been distributed as gifts as part of the lavish birthday celebrations.

Object details

Categories
Royalty
Textiles
Embroidery
Wall Coverings
Politics
Object type
Scroll
TitleScroll (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Embroidered silk satin with silk threads
Silk (Textile)
Embroidering
Brief description
Scroll of satin embroidered in coloured silks, China, 1894
Physical description
Scroll of buff coloured satin embroidered with coloured silks in long and short, satin and stem stitches.

It depicts a crane perched on one leg on a tree stump with flowering peonies below.

The scroll is mounted on white figured silk paper as a hanging scroll.
Dimensions
  • Scroll length: 73in
  • Scroll width: 16.75in
  • Embroidery length: 61in
  • Embroidery width: 13.75in
Marks and inscriptions
  • (Date inscription)
    Translation
    Early in the first month of spring of the chia-wu year of the Kuan-hsu reign
    Transliteration
    'Kuang-hsu chia-wu meng-ch'un hsia-huan'
  • (Inscription next to date)
    Translation
    Imperial script
    Transliteration
    'yu-pi'
  • (On principal seal)
    Translation
    precious property of the Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi
    Transliteration
    'tz'u-hsi huang-t'ai-ho chih-pao'
  • (Top right seal)
    Translation
    Ta-ya studio
    Transliteration
    'ta-ya-chai'
  • (Top left seal)
    Transliteration
    'chao-chang yun-han'
  • (Above the picture is a poem embroidered in black silk)
  • 慈禧皇太后之寶 (Square seal, embroidered in red silk)
    Translation
    Precious property of the Empress dowager Cixi
    Transliteration
    Cixi huang tai hou zhi bao
  • (In the lower right of the picture is a poem embroidered in black silk)
  • (Two smaller seals to the lower left of the principal seal)
Subjects depicted
Peonies
Rocks
Crane (Bird)
丹頂鶴
立石
牡丹
卷阿 (篇名)
花
葉
枝
花鳥
棲息 (陸鳥)
迴首 (鳥)
鳴叫 (動物)
開花
Summary
This is a scroll from a set of four which appears to have a connection with the Dowager Empress Cixi (1835–1908) of China. Like the other three scrolls, it has her seal at the centre top. The embroidery shows a red-crested crane and peony flowers, associated with a long life and royalty respectively. All four scrolls are likely to have been embroidered from paintings made by the empress herself and embroidered by court artisans for her all-important 60th birthday. The scrolls might have been distributed as gifts as part of the lavish birthday celebrations.
Bibliographic reference
Wilson, Verity. Chinese Textiles. London: V&A Publications, 2005, plate 62.
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
T.76-1971

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Record createdOctober 21, 2004
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106625/scroll-scroll-unknown/
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