Page 146 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

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A RARE EMBROIDERED SILK IMPERIAL LANDSCAPE The group of the ‘Five Poisons’, Wudu, including the toad, lizard,
18th Century scorpion, centipede and snake, was thought to form an elixir that
The panel finely embroidered in gold thread and counted satin stitch neutralises evil during the ‘Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwujie, which fell
with a landscape scene depicting shrubs of lingzhi, paulownia and on the fifth day of the fifth month. The event marked the beginning of
prunus issuing from Taihu rocks, all interspersed with four of the Five summer and it was commonly believed that one could ward off the
Noxious Creatures including the snake, centipede, scorpion and toad potential negative influences caused by the five animals by possessing
issuing an elegant pavilion from the vapours of its mouth, all beneath a charm which incorporated their imagery. The absence of the spider
the sun and trailing clouds, all on a gilded background, bordered with from the present composition suggests that the present textile was
a leiwen band and a midnight-blue brocade woven with a lotus scrolls, once a slightly larger panel that incorporated the multi-legged insect.
framed and glazed. Actual silk surface
99cm (39in) wide x 68cm (26 6/8in) high. Stylistically, the present panel can be compared to a number of silk
embroidered textiles in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The shaded
£6,000 - 8,000 blue rocks and double-layered lingzhi fungi, for example, closely
CNY47,000 - 63,000 compare with those embroidered on a silk panel embroidered with
auspicious designs of birds and flowers, Qianlong, illustrated in The
十八世紀 刺繡山水紋屏 Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Textiles and
Embroideries of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2005,
p.198, no.219; by the same token, see a silk embroidered scroll
depicting a landscape with pavilions, mid Qing dynasty, in the Qing
Court Collection, illustrated in Ibid., p.199, no.220.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
144 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.