Gu Wan Tu 古玩圖 (Pictures of Ancient Playthings), handscroll, ink and colours on paper, China, Qing, 1729

This handscroll depicts ceramics, jades, bronze vessels and curios in other media owned by the Qing Yongzheng Emperor (r.1723-35). The objects are painted in ink and colours on papersheets roughly the same length. The scroll is composed of seventeen sheets of paper and can be divided into two sections. The first section includes nine paper sheets followed by one depicting nine display cabinets. The second section includes six sheets followed by a final one showing six display cabinets. The objects are painted in a realistic style, suspended against an unpainted backdrop. The roller ends are made of ivory that has been dyed green. The scroll's title slip is written in clear regular script.

Purchased from Capt. J.S. Rivett-Carnac, 1911. The scroll may have originated from the imperial tomb of the Yongzheng emperor, Tai mausoleum (Tailing), which is part of the western Qing tombs (Qing Xiling). For more, see R. Brosch in The Burlington Magazine.

This long handscroll was made for the Yongzheng emperor (reigned 1723–35) as a kind of pictorial inventory of his palace collections. It depicts some 250 ceramics, jade and hardstone carvings, bronzes, root wood and other kinds of curios. In the painting the court artist, or artists, incorporated European techniques of perspective and shading.

E.59-1911