A SET OF FOUR ALBUM LEAVES FROM THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD REGULATIONS

细节
A SET OF FOUR ALBUM LEAVES FROM THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD REGULATIONS
18TH CENTURY

Ink, colour and gilt on silk, exquisitely painted with four models of Imperial ceremonial canopies lu bo, one decorated with striding dragons among clouds reserved on a yellow ground, the other three with a variety of floral sprigs, each depicted on a fold, and reserved on a white, red or blue ground, the leaves inscribed Huangdi dajia lubu wuse (long gai or hua gai) tu (the illustration for his Imperial Highness's multicoloured canopy in dragon or floral designs), slight staining
16 x 13 in. (40.5 x 33 cm.) (4)

拍品专文

An inscription on the folio for the album identifies these pages as being taken from the the Imperial library in the Summer Palace and purchased by Lieutenant G. Chaleuess at that time.

These canopies would have been used in formal ceremonies, as part of the Imperial procession. A portion of a handscroll displaying insignia, including similar canopies, at Emperor Guangxu's wedding celebrations, is illustrated in Holdsworth & Courtauld, The Forbidden City: The Great Within, 1995, p. 32. The colours employed on these canopies have a measure of significance in the traditional Chinese belief that particular colours were chosen for ceremonial purposes and thus, assigned to different altars: blue for the Altar of Earth, yellow for the Altar of Earth, white for the Altar of the Moon, and red for the Altar of the Sun. Although such colour symbolism has been used since the Ming dynasty (or possibly before), little is known why these assertions were made.

(US$11,000-13,000)