Scroll

Right-hand inscription:
Nongyan xinying xiaolu kai
穠艷新迎曉露開
Extravagant beauty blossoms welcoming anew the morning dew

The final four characters of this inscription are a quotation from Jilingtai ershou, the first of two, four-line poems composed by the Tang dynasty poet Zhang Hu 張祜 (c.782-852). This poem describes the morning sun shining upon the dew-covered flowers blossoming by the imperial palace at Tang dynasty capital Chang’an. The previous night the emperor Tang Xuanzong had sent a note inviting his consort Yang Guifei to join him for the night; an invitation that she gladly accepted, entering the curtained bed with a smile.

Guangxu renyin zhongqiu xiahuan
光緒壬寅中秋下浣
[Painted during] the final ten days of mid-autumn in the renyin year during the reign of the Guangxu emperor [equivalent to 1902 in the Western calendar].

Yubi
禦筆
Imperial brush [painted by Cixi]

Large seal
Cixi huang taihou zhi bao
慈禧皇太后之寳
A Treasure of the Empress Dowager Cixi

Seal
Bingqing yurun
冰清玉潤

Two further seals are as yet unidentified

Object Summary

Accession Loan No.
44/1918
Category
Ethnography
Collection Class
Manuscripts and writing tools
Common Name
scroll
Simple Name
scroll
Production Country
China, People's Republic of
Production Date
1902
Production Year High
1918

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painted scroll