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拍品专文
The present screen is decorated on both sides with auspicious birthday subjects, combining historical narrative and Daoist imagery to convey blessings of longevity, prosperity, and divine favour.
The recto depicts Guo Ziyi, the celebrated Tang dynasty general, honoured at a grand birthday gathering. Seated in a hall surrounded by descendants, attendants, and arriving guests, the scene conveys wealth, rank, and familial prosperity. Revered in later tradition as the model of complete blessing, Guo Ziyi embodies the ideal of a life fulfilled through longevity, success, and an illustrious lineage.
The verso presents a celestial counterpart, showing a gathering of immortals in the paradise of the Queen Mother of the West. Figures including the Eight Immortals, Magu, and the Star Gods of Fortune, Emolument, and Longevity arrive bearing gifts, all symbols of long life and auspiciousness.
Together, the two sides form a coherent visual and symbolic scheme: the front celebrates worldly longevity and prosperity, while the reverse invokes blessings from the celestial realm, expressing a wish for both earthly success and heavenly protection.
The inscriptions record that the screen was commissioned in 1696 to celebrate the seventieth birthday of Madame Wang of the Chen family, praising her virtue, refinement, and noble character, and offering formal birthday blessings.
The recto depicts Guo Ziyi, the celebrated Tang dynasty general, honoured at a grand birthday gathering. Seated in a hall surrounded by descendants, attendants, and arriving guests, the scene conveys wealth, rank, and familial prosperity. Revered in later tradition as the model of complete blessing, Guo Ziyi embodies the ideal of a life fulfilled through longevity, success, and an illustrious lineage.
The verso presents a celestial counterpart, showing a gathering of immortals in the paradise of the Queen Mother of the West. Figures including the Eight Immortals, Magu, and the Star Gods of Fortune, Emolument, and Longevity arrive bearing gifts, all symbols of long life and auspiciousness.
Together, the two sides form a coherent visual and symbolic scheme: the front celebrates worldly longevity and prosperity, while the reverse invokes blessings from the celestial realm, expressing a wish for both earthly success and heavenly protection.
The inscriptions record that the screen was commissioned in 1696 to celebrate the seventieth birthday of Madame Wang of the Chen family, praising her virtue, refinement, and noble character, and offering formal birthday blessings.