Lot Essay
This present beautifully painted long scroll vividly depicts the lengthy and complex process of silk production mastered by women, from plucking the mulberry leaves, feeding the silk worms, harvesting the cocoons, reeling the silk filament to ironing the final piece of silk. See the magnificent scroll by the Song dynasty painter Lou Shou (1089-1162) on the same subject of the silk production process, 'Can Zhi Tu', in the collection of the Heilongjiang museum of China.