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MUSEUM OF ART
examined carefully, will reveal a judicious
use of paint-but those tapestries on which
paint was used in any quantity are almost
without exception of inferior quality on
every count, and we have yet to find a single
example recorded as the work of an accredited artist. That is not to say they are
skies and rich autumnal clouds the observer
of Nature may daily watch her endless varieties of effect."
Constable described himself in the artist
who "by a close observation of Nature . . .
discovers qualities existing in her which
have never been portrayed before." Although he had studied older painters,
especially the Dutch landscapists, with
care and was for a time influenced by Girtin, he still could say, "When I sit down to
make a sketch from nature, the first thing
I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen
a picture." Constable's penetrating naturalism was entirely new in England, and for
long not nearly as much admired there as
the landscapes by Turner which hung beside his own in the Academy exhibitions.
But the Haywain, exhibited in Paris in
1824, created a sensation in France. Constable started modern landscape painting
in a new direction which the French rather
than the English were to explore.
ALICE NEWLIN.
AN EXHIBITION OF
CHINESE TAPESTRIES
The status of Chinese tapestry, or k'o ssu,
as the silk tapestry of China is called, has
never been clearly defined either in China
or in the West. The Chinese have always
classified the finest pictorial tapestries in
the paintings category (because they were
designed and perhaps even woven by distinguished painters), which has tended to
weaken the prestige of the tapestries from
the standpoint of weaving. This custom has
persisted in the West, with the result that
little differentiation has been made bebetween paintings and tapestry scroll pictures. Further, Western appreciation of
Chinese pictorial tapestries has been greatly
hindered by the plethora of hybrid pictures which combine weaving and painting,
sometimes a good half of the design being
painted. These have been all too generally
received in the West as an approved innovation of China's first-rank tapestry weavers.
One must not be too didactic about condemning the practice of painting in minor
details-occasionally a fine tapestry, when
FIG.
I. FLOWERING
SHRUBS
MING DYNASTY
entirely without merit-some are charming
and extremely decorative-but their claim
to legitimacy in the tapestry family must
be questioned.
Because the Chinese used only fine silks,
their tapestries bear little resemblance to
those of the West, which are for the most
part patterned in heavy wool over linen
warps. The Chinese technique is exactly
that of the Gobelin tapestries; but the finest
Gobelin tapestries have only about fiftyII
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Coq, and Paul Pelliot during the early part
of the century produced not only a goodly
number of T'ang tapestry fragments but a
single precious example attributed to the
Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), the latter
found by Sir Aurel. Space does not permit
an adequate discussion of these important
finds, but it should be noted that the only
five wefts per inch of warp, whereas Chinese
tapestry frequently has as many as 250,
sometimes more.
In order to appreciate fully the Ming and
Ch'ing tapestries in the current exhibition'
one should know something about the development of the weave in earlier periods.
A quarter of a century ago we should have
FIG. 2. PHOENIXES
MUSEUM OF ART
AND FLOWERING
SHRUBS
EARLY XVIII CENTURY
had to begin any study of Chinese tapestries
with the Sung dynasty; for although there
were a few T'ang specimens in the Shosoin,
the Imperial Japanese Treasure House at
Nara, which is a great T'ang repository,
they were almost unrecognized and were
unsupported by any other evidence. The
archaeological expeditions to Chinese Turkestan of Sir Aurel Stein, Albert von Le
1 Heldin thesmallgalleryforspecialexhibitions
(E 15) from January 14 through February 26.
12
examples of the weave which antedate the
Han specimen are a few fragments of linen
tapestry from Egypt and the Crimea which
are said to date variously from I 500 to 400
B.C. A study of the T'ang (618-906) fragments reveals that, like contemporary Coptic and Peruvian weaves, Chinese tapestry
had not yet reached the pictorial stage,
most of the T'ang fragments having repeat
designs, usually with a bird or animal as the
central motive.
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The name k'o ssu (literally, "to cut" or
"engrave silk") came into use some time
during the Sung dynasty (960-1280), and it
was during this period that the first pictorial
tapestries appear to have been woven.
Characteristic of the period was the work
of one of the few women artists of China,
MUSEUM OF ART
teristic of one school of Sung artists and
may well be an authentic piece.
A small floral panel2 in the exhibition is
one of the many so-called Sung tapestries
about which we are not sure. It is an exquisitely designed piece, and though faded from
exposure or from some unfortunate cleaning
FIG. 3. CHILDREN AT PLAY
MING DYNASTY
Chu K'o-jou, who achieved fame during the
first half of the twelfth century. Although
she was known as an accomplished painter,
Chu K'o-jou's fame derives chiefly from her
artistry in k'o ssu-weaving, particularly
those examples depicting birds and flowers.
An album leaf, Camellia and Butterfly, in
the Imperial Museum at Mukden, bears her
seal; and though not one of the specific tapestries attributed to her by her biographers,
it is in the delicate miniature style charac-
experiment, it has the delicate charm which
we are wont to associate with one type of
Sung pictorial art. The gold thread woven
into the design may eventually help to establish the Sung origin-it is totally unlike
that used in Ming tapestries or those of later
periods and gives the impression of belonging to the experimental stage of tapestryweaving with gold thread.
From a technical standpoint, the Ming
2 Acc. no.
13.100.24.
13
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OF THE METROPOLITAN
the seal of 1s'ui Po, which does not necessarily prove anything. The Chinese panel
was labeled "possibly Sung," but without
having the two together for careful study it
is impossible to be sure that one is actually
earlier than the other.
The other Ming scroll tapestry (fig. 4)4
is a lively portrait of Tung Fang-so, the
witty favorite of history and legend, he who
not only played a brilliant role at the court
of Wu Ti (156-87 B.C.) but, so the story
goes, was on such friendly terms with the
gods that he was able to steal the peaches
of immortality from Hsi Wang Mu, the
Western Queen Mother of Taoism. The
tapestry is unsigned, but six seals of the
Emperor Ch'ien Lung (1736-I795) attest
to its popularity with this great connoisseur,
the two additional seals of ChiaCh'ing ( 7961820) indicating further imperial approval.
The Ming tapestries woven for use in
palace decoration or for costume embellishment are usually distinguished by a compact
weave of heavy twisted silk and by strong
colors which are the exact counterparts of
those found on Ming porcelains, the blues,
greens, and red in particular. Tapestries of
this type have a rich textural quality which
more nearly approaches the Western conception of the weave than do the more
delicately conceived scroll tapestries. Some
large-scale hangings in this weave survive,
but much more numerous are gay little
panels such as that illustrated in figure 3,5
squares with emblematic birds or animals
for the robes of officials,6 and roundels from
an emperor's robe showing the imperial
dragon. The most beautiful examples of
weaving in the whole group of Ming tapestries may be seen in the two dragon emblems exhibited. In one7 peacock feathers
twisted on thread are woven into the design.
The other,8 patterned in reds, blues, greens,
black, white, and imperial yellow, with
dragons woven in silver thread (now practically all rotted away), is the only early
example we have ever seen in which the
loose ends of the weft threads, instead of
scroll tapestries are much more closely related to Sung pictorial tapestries than to the
Ming tapestries created for practical purposes, an extremely fine weave always being
essential for the delicate designs and minute
details which characterize this type. Only
two scrolls attributed to Ming (1368-1644)
FIG. 4. TUNG
THE PEACHES
FANG-SO
MUSEUM OF ART
AND
OF IMMORTALITY
MING DYNASTY
are shown, both of which were considered
worthy of a place in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London. One, a
floral panel (fig. I),3 is after an original design by the famous Sung artist Ts'ui Po.
Evidently this particular subject was a favorite with the Chinese, for another version
differing only in minor details turned up
among the Chinese Government loans to
the London exhibition. Both scrolls bear
3 Acc. no.
13.220.102.
4 Acc. no. 26.114.4.
Acc. no. 36.65.50.
6 See acc. no.
36.65.29.
7 Acc. no.
8 Acc. no. 36.65.32.
36.65.33.
14
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being left raw on the wrong side, are completely concealed, making the tapestry reversible. The technical proficiency apparent
in these two tapestries indicates that they
were woven toward the end of the Ming
dynasty.
The Ch'ing dynasty (i644-1912) emphasis on technical perfection eventually turned
into a supercraft what had once been a fine
art. It is apparent, however, that artistic
genius was not entirely dead in the eighteenth century, for out of this age dedicated
to pretty trifles comes a pair of magnificent
palace hangings (one illustrated in fig. 2)9
which would have graced any period in
Chinese history. The sweeping design of
phoenixes, cloud scrolls, and flowering
shrubs is woven in delicate blues, greens,
grays, white, pinkish tan, and lacquer red
on a ground of imperial yellow. The weave
is as fine as that of the average pictorial
scrolls, a fact that is almost unbelievable
considering the scale of the hangings, each
measuring 82 by I 18I2 inches.
The argument for and against the use of
paint on pictorial tapestries may be clarified
by comparing the two hangings described
above with those tapestries in the exhibition which show a free use of paint. A small
amount of brushwork may be detected on
the large hangings, but so vigorous and
clear is the woven design one scarcely
notices the painted details. In the other type
mastery of design is lacking in both the
painting and the weaving, and one cannot
escape the conviction that such pieces have
no real place among fine tapestries.
Several emperors' robes and a Buddhist
priest robe10have been included in the exhibition to illustrate the type of tapestry
weave most prevalent in the eighteenth century. In two of the emperors' robes we have
unquestionable evidence that the greatest
talent in the kingdom was pressed into service in this phase of tapestry-weaving. Probably designed and woven by the same artist,
a powder blue robe patterned in delicate
pastel shades"t and a robe with a dazzling
MUSEUM OF ART
all-over cloud pattern in reds, yellows,
greens, and blues outlined in gold'2 surpass
any examples of tapestry-weaving we have
ever seen, not excepting the finest pictorial
tapestries. As the accouterments of the Son
of Heaven in his annual sacrificial ceremonies in behalf of his people, these robes are
much more than a brilliant tour de forcethey are highly significant testimonials to
a great tradition as well as to a great art.
PAULINE SIMMONS.
THE BEQUEST OF
GIULIA P. MOROSINI
Through the bequest of Giulia P. Morosini, who died on February 4, 1932, the
Museum received the art collection' formed
by her father, Giovanni Pertinax Morosini,
together with a fund of fifty thousand dollars for its upkeep. Mr. Morosini had been
one of the first collectors in America to
specialize in arms and armor. A generous
provision of his daughter's will permitted
the Museum to select such items as were
needed for its permanent collection; over
two hundred were accordingly chosen for
the Department of Arms and Armor and
about one hundred for other departments.
ARMS AND ARMOR
Of the arms and armor selected by the
Museum I53 items are of European provenance, 6I Near Eastern, and I6 Far Eastern.2 Ten of the European items are armor,
the rest are weapons. The most important
element of armor among the German pieces
is a right-arm defense of the early sixteenth
century which was executed by Koloman
Colman (1470/7I-I532) of Augsburg. Its
mate had already been acquired by the Museum.3 Also of Bavarian workmanship is an
early seventeenth-century breastplate(fig. 2)
etched with the arms of the duchy. Of
Italian workmanship is a sixteenth-century
chamfron with blued surface and bands
12 Acc. no.
32.23.
9 Acc. nos. 25.109.1, 2. These also were included
in the London exhibition.
10L.3205.3. On loan from Miss Florence Waterbury since 1933.
1 Acc. no. 30.75.7.
1 Shown principally in the current Room of
Recent Accessions.
2 Acc. nos.
32.75.86-699.
3Acc. no. 29.158. 23 in the Bashford Dean
Memorial Collection.
