Hanging with Figures from a Chinese Opera: probably A Bed Full of Ivory Tablets. 1800s. Silk and metal thread embroidery on wool. Neusteter Textile Collection: Walter C. Mead Collection, by exchange. 1950.2.

height: 59.5 in, 151.1300 cm; width: 135 in, 342.9000 cm

Avenir Institute of Textile Arts and Fashion

Textile Arts and Fashion-Asian

The ivory tablets of the title are official insignia denoting status. General Guo Ziyi, a Tang Dynasty hero, had seven sons and eight son-in-laws, each of whom was entitled to a tablet. When they all visited, as on the occasion of the General’s 80th birthday celebration, the tablets were piled on a bed (depicted in 1966.40). This hanging, showing figures from the cast, would have been displayed in a private family home on a festive occasion, perhaps when a performance took place.

Exchanged December 1950 via Sarkisian's, Denver, CO and Denver Art Museum

• "Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of China's Last Dynasty," October 30, 2011 - January 29, 2012 (DAM)
• "Threads of Heaven: Silken Legacy of China's Last Dynasty," Februrary 7 - May 18, 2014 (Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH)