Mythical landscape with immortals
This imposing set of ten silk tapestries depicts a mountainscape of magic and wonder. In the center, assembled scholars gaze up at a group of cloud-borne female immortals as they descend to the earthly realm. Waves surge with numinous intensity as auspicious cranes circle and mystical deer prance through the hills. The blue-green color palette reinforces the sense of a world inhabited by mystical forces. These colorful tapestries were created using the kesi technique, in which the picture is created by laboriously weaving in individual threads of different-colored silk, though their makers painted many of the details after weaving to speed up the process.
Artwork Details
- 清 緙絲山水人物圖
- Title: Mythical landscape with immortals
- Artist: Unidentified artist Chinese, 18th century
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: 19th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Silk tapestry (kesi) with sections of hand-painted ink and color
- Dimensions: Overall (a): 17 3/4 x 65 in. (45.1 x 165.1 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913
- Object Number: 13.220.83a–j
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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