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Accession Number 2004.19.4 Title Peonies Alternate Title Tree Peony Category paintings Object Type hanging scroll Artist Empress Dowager Cixi Date Made 1905 Place Made China Culture Chinese Period Qing 20th century Materials ink and colour on silk Measurements sheet: 228.6 cm x 76.7 cm; image: 118 cm x 61.7 cm Description

A hanging scroll depicting branches with two peony blossoms - one red and one yellow-pink. This painting has been attributed to Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), a controversial political figure from the Qing Dynasty…

A hanging scroll depicting branches with two peony blossoms - one red and one yellow-pink. This painting has been attributed to Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), a controversial political figure from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) who has interests in calligraphy and painting. The flowers are painted in the mogu, or "boneless" technique, while the branches and leaves are rendered in the gongbi style, which uses a more detailed and realistic brushstroke. In China, the tree peony, or mudan, is a popular shrub in many gardens, and the peony flower as a symbol represents wealth, rank and honour.

Read More + Inscriptions and Colophons

Chinese inscriptions on the top, a row of small characters on the right shows 光緒乙巳孟春上浣御筆 guangxu yisi mengchun shang huan yu bi. Literally translated as "[This was painted] by the imperial…

Chinese inscriptions on the top, a row of small characters on the right shows 光緒乙巳孟春上浣御筆 guangxu yisi mengchun shang huan yu bi. Literally translated as "[This was painted] by the imperial authority in the spring of the first month in the yisi year of Emperor Guangshu period, 1905. On its left, the big font calligraphy is上苑花開富貴春 shanyuan huakai fugui chun, literally translated as the “blooming in the imperial garden reveals a prosperous and honourable spring.”

Four seals are impressed on the top right, from left to right and top to below. Their inscriptions are 慈禧皇太后之寶 Cixi huangtaihou zhibao “the treasure of Empress Dowager Cixi”, 大雅齋 Da ya zhai the place of “Cixi’s painting studio”, 澂心正性 cheng xin zheng xing “purification and decency”, and 天地長春 tian di chang chun “the everlasting spring of heaven and earth”.

Read More + Credit Line Gift of Sandy and Cécile Mactaggart