A Chinese folding screen with four embroidered court scenes

16th/17th century

All on silk; featuring painting and embroidery throughout panels. Each decorated with continuous scene featuring courtly figures socializing in architectural garden complex.

H: 64 3/8, W: 69 3/8 in.

H: 163.51, W: 176.21 cm. (overall)

Provenance: Private collection, Indiana.

Gu-family embroidery is a traditional Han Chinese embroidery technique, originating from the Gu family in the Songjiang area during the Ming dynasty. This family produced famous embroiderers such as Miao, Han Ximeng, and Gu Lanyu, each with their own distinctive style. Mixing tradition and innovation, these skilled artists cultivated embroidery into a robust industry and promoted it south of the Yangtze River. Although this family produced the largest number of embroideries ever recorded, less than two hundred pieces survive today, a majority of which are now held in the Palace Museum in Beijing and other cultural institutions. The embroidered screen presented here is divided into four well-organized panels. The colorful silk threads are fashioned in techniques such as the wrapped stitch, joining stitch, rolling stitch, and diagonal stitch. Prominent pigments include stone blue, stone green, and ochre. The content of the work is taken from the story of Fenyang King Guo Ziyi's birthday in Zhao Lin's "Yin Hua Lu," which dates to the Tang dynasty. The twenty-five characters depicted within the scene, all of differing ages and genders, feel true-to-life and vivid with their subtle expressions. The screen shows the grand scene of Guo Ziyi's birthday, where his seven sons, eight sons-in-law, and other various subordinates congratulate him in and around his mansion, all dressed in exquisite robes and hats. The graceful and elegant female relatives of Guo Ziyi are adorned with splendid crowns. The maids and boys shown throughout carry either musical instruments or hold pots and boxes. The costumes of the figures are accurate to the time period. Featured within the mansion are images of pavilions, towers, pine trees, cranes, bamboo stones, and banana plants. Outside, guards stand on either side of the mansion gate, while civil and military officials arrive to celebrate. An almost identical work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

See below references for similar objects: Metropolitan Museum of Art, No. 2019.445.1a–l ; Chinese Sungari, December 2017, Lot 2937.

顧繡又稱「露香園顧繡」，漢族傳統刺繡工藝之一，因起源於明代松江地區的顧氏世家而得名。據傳顧繡繡法出自皇宮大內，顧家先後出現了繆氏、韓希孟和顧蘭玉等顧繡名手，各有千秋。尤其顧氏，繼承傳統兼有創新，多作條屏、屏障，將刺繡發展成為一項賴以生計的行業，帶動了江南地區刺繡業的發展，數量為歷代之最，但傳世不足兩百件，且多為故宮等多家博物院（館）所收藏。
此條屏以五彩絲線作繡，運用套針、接針、滾針和斜纏針等技法，並輔以石藍、石綠和赭石等顏料皴擦點染。內容取自唐代趙璘《因話錄》中汾陽王郭子儀上壽的典故。表現了郭子儀誕辰其「七子八婿」以及僚屬為其祝壽時府中內外的宏大景象。府中亭臺樓閣、勁松仙鶴、竹石芭蕉。「七子八婿」皆著高品冠服，女眷頭戴華冠雍容優雅，侍女童子或攜琴或執壺或捧盒。王府門外，儀仗侍立兩旁，文武官員前來賀壽。作品分四扇，整體畫面結構宏偉嚴謹，畫中人物造型準確生動。男女長幼共計二十五人，人物表情刻畫細微。人物服飾符合《明會典•卷六十一》中所載的「公侯駙馬伯麒麟白澤。文官一品仙鶴……武官一品二品獅子」的禮製要求。 大都會博物館館藏（編號-2019.445.1a–l）作品與本品內容幾乎一致，可資參考。

相似藏品可見：大都會博物館館藏，編號2019.445.1a–l；中貿聖佳2017年12月秋拍，編號2937

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