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Lot Essay
This is a remarkably large embroidered panel to have survived in spectacular condition from the 14th century. The design presents as an overall design of drop shaped panels. Close inspection shows that every single one of the forty-nine panels has a different design, a different arrangement of a wide variety of flowers and occasional fruit.
In contrast to the weavings in the preceding four lots the design here is worked in a way that is closer to the Chinese. The flowers all show a greater naturalism than is shown in the other lots, with a number of them being possible to identify as known species. The threads also are worked in a way to create far more shading than is found in the other lots (this point is discussed at greater length in the note to lot 98). The silk that is used for the ground is also very similar in colour to the ground of a spectacular embroidered canopy in the Metropolitan Museum of Art attributed to Yuan China (1279-1368) (in James C.Y.Watt and Anne C. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold, Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1997, no.60, pp.196-198). As there, the colours here are slightly subdued when compared to the others in this collection, lacking the vivid red.
A Carbon 14 analysis, performed by the Rafter Laboratory in New Zealand, sample 32465/4 on 7 July 2010 gives the following results, consistent with the proposed dating for this lot:
68 confidence level: 1286 AD to 1299 AD (43.7 plus 1371 AD to 1380 AD (22.7
95 confidence level: 1281 AD to 1306 AD (57.3 plus 1364 AD to 1386 AD (37.9
In contrast to the weavings in the preceding four lots the design here is worked in a way that is closer to the Chinese. The flowers all show a greater naturalism than is shown in the other lots, with a number of them being possible to identify as known species. The threads also are worked in a way to create far more shading than is found in the other lots (this point is discussed at greater length in the note to lot 98). The silk that is used for the ground is also very similar in colour to the ground of a spectacular embroidered canopy in the Metropolitan Museum of Art attributed to Yuan China (1279-1368) (in James C.Y.Watt and Anne C. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold, Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1997, no.60, pp.196-198). As there, the colours here are slightly subdued when compared to the others in this collection, lacking the vivid red.
A Carbon 14 analysis, performed by the Rafter Laboratory in New Zealand, sample 32465/4 on 7 July 2010 gives the following results, consistent with the proposed dating for this lot:
68 confidence level: 1286 AD to 1299 AD (43.7 plus 1371 AD to 1380 AD (22.7
95 confidence level: 1281 AD to 1306 AD (57.3 plus 1364 AD to 1386 AD (37.9