Page 147 - Yamanaka co Auction catalog

230-BROCADE WALL HANGING WITH SILVER AND GOLD (Ch'ien-
lung)
A complex lattice, hexagonal and star-shaped, interwoven
with foliate figures formed of the scepter-head design, is
worked in blue, green and silver on a warm salmon ground,
the interspaces ornamented with flower-sprays and dragons
delica tely accomplished in harmonious colors. N ear the
top a Shou character appears, and lower down a large
cloud medallion encloses an ocean-side pavilion of the Taoist
paradise, a stork with a rod in his beak-courier of the
immortals-flying above it, the whole worked in blues,
greens, white, silver and gold. Another medallion of con-
ventional designs intervenes between this and the base,
where the wave motive appears, with a gold and green Fu-
lion poised on a blue rock projecting from the waters. A
border in the several colors is formed of the gourd-vine
in bearing, with butterflies, and the swastika symbol is
worked on some of the fruit.
Length, 66% inches ; width, 20% inches.

231-FoUR ANTIQUE CHINESE TAPESTRY WALL HANGINGS (Eigh-
teenth century)
Rich and beautiful fabrics, picturing many personages, in
soft colors of quiet, restful tone and a lingering, fascinat-
ing quality, on a ground of gold whose own quality, despite
its affluence, is reciprocally reticent. Around the edge is a
narrow border of delicate blue, adorned in the gold of the
ground with the repeated motive of the two dragons guard-
ing the flaming jewel, the dragons conventionalized to the
last degree of refinement, the bodies giving the impression
of a floral scroll. Each panel exhibits ten human figures,
distributed in several groups: nobles and their attendants,
and warriors, variously engaged, at rest and in progress,
one group on horseback. At the bottom-two to each
panel-are the celebrated steeds of Mu Wang, the eight
famed horses with which the great Chou Emperor's char-
ioteer drove the monarch wherever horse had trod or wheel
made rut throughout his ancient realm.
Length, 67 inches; width, 15% inches.