Painting Court ladies in their everyday routine

The fourth picture from an album of Chinese paintings of the everyday lives of court ladies. Vertical inscriptions on the walls next to the doors, called duilian 對聯, often decorate Chinese rooms, reflecting the status, inner feelings and views of the inhabitants in a poetic spirit. They are often seen next to doors, but also on walls in the form of vertical scrolls. Poetic writings in a precise metre and with a prescribed number of characters reflect the intellectual breadth, poetic feeling, and wit of their authors. The inscriptions in this painting speak of a fragrant flower whose scent spreads five kilometres, while peach blossoms glisten in a nearby river. In addition, the painting depicts a door in the shape of a vase, which is a symbol of peace because “vase” (ping 瓶) is a homonym of “peace” (ping 平) in Chinese. (NVS)

Information
Object history

Place of manufacture: Canton (Guangdong 廣東 )

Material description: paper from Tetrapanex papyrifera (tongcao 通草) tree, silk

Manufacturing technique: gouache, watercolour

Dimensions: height: 26 cm, length: 37 cm

Inscription: 小苑花香通十里. 長岸桃花映隔河. (the character is not visible) 稚淡隹春意. 載嚴涼不世情. Xiao yuan hua xiang tong shi li. Chang an taohua ying ge he. Zhi dan zhui chunyi. Zai yan liang bu shiqing. (Fragrant flowers in a small garden smell 10 li around. Peach blossoms along the long bank glisten in the river. A young short-tailed bird indicates spring rush, carries away cold sharpness and not universal love.)

No. of parts: the fourth of twelve paintings

Current owner: Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Date of the last acquisition: 1963

Last acquisition method: donation

Previous owners and periods of ownership: Ivan Skušek, Jr. and Tsuneko Kondō Kawase - Marija Skušek, National Museum of Slovenia, Slovene Ethnographic Museum

Object condition, handling and damage: The edges of the paper are slightly torn in the lower part.

History of exhibition: Slovene Ethnographic Museum, Ljubljana, 31. 8. 2006–3. 9. 2007 (exhibition Srečevanja s Kitajsko: 200 let slovenskih odkrivanj kitajske kulture [Encounters with China: 200 years of Slovenian discovery of Chinese culture])

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