A SILK AND GILDED METALLIC THREAD CARPET

细节

A SILK AND GILDED METALLIC THREAD CARPET
19TH CENTURY

Woven with a central field of double-tailed phoenix perched on rockwork from which grow peony beneath the boughs of a flowering tree, with pairs of birds and wispy clouds in the distance, reserved on a ground of gilded copper-wrapped threads, within a keyfret frame bordered by an inner band of conjoined circles, auspicious symbols and flower sprays, all within a plain dark blue outer band, picked out in ochre, salmon, blue, green and rust, woven with a five-character hallmark reading Ningshou Gong Beiyong, which may be translated as "Made for use in the Palace of Repose and Longevity"--84 1/2 x 48 1/2 in. (215 x 123.2 cm.)

拍品专文

The Ningshou Gong, or Palace of Repose and Longevity, lies in the northeastern corner of the Forbidden City, and was rebuilt and enlarged by the Qianlong emperor for his retirement. The main hall within the complex, the Hall of Imperial Supremacy, was completed in 1776, and was used by the Qianlong emperor, after his retirement, for acknowledging felicitations to emperors on major occasions; on the first year of his retirement he gave a large party known as the "Banquet for Thousand Elders", to honor the aged and meritorious citizens of his empire. This hall was originally built by the Kangxi emperor for his mother in 1688. See Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, 1982, p.73