A LARGE CORAL-RED-GROUND SILK EMBROIDERED 'LONGEVITY' HANGING 19th century
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY 女士藏品
A LARGE CORAL-RED-GROUND SILK EMBROIDERED 'LONGEVITY' HANGING
19th century
Finely embroidered with a seaside scene featuring a pair of cranes standing on pitted rocks amidst pine trees, branches of large peaches, peonies and bats, surrounded by a border of leiwen designs interspersed with three Shou medallions and the Eight Auspicious Symbols, between two bands of scrolling lotus and between a gathering of immortal figures on the upper register and a flock of cranes carrying a tally besides a pagoda on the lower register.
430cm (169 2/8in) high x 186cm (73 1/8in) wide.
十九世紀 緞繡紅地「海屋添壽」圖大掛屏
Provenance: a distinguished private European collection
Marie Joséphine Eugénie Brégère-Kromer Violet (1864 - 1921) and thence by descent
來源： 顯赫歐洲私人收藏
Marie Joséphine Eugénie Brégère-Kromer Violet (1864 - 1921)，並由後人保存迄今
Marie Joséphine Eugénie Brégère-Kromer Violet, a wealthy French lady, married Lambert Violet in 1899. Lambert was the son of Simon Violet, a prominent wine producer who, in 1873, created Byrrh, a renowned aromatised wine aperitif blending wine with mistelles and botanicals. Initially marketed as a health tonic, Byrrh faced challenges competing with established local aperitif producers. However, the business thrived, growing from a modest operation to one of significant scale.
The business began modestly with just a few small barrels of wine, but as demand grew, so did the size of the wine barrels. Following Simon's passing in 1891, his son Lambert assumed control of the family business and embarked on the construction of vast cathedral-like cellars in Thuir. These cellars housed 70 oak vats with a combined capacity exceeding 15 million litres of wine, making them the largest in the world upon their inauguration in 1892. By 1910, the company boasted 750 employees and distributed over 30 million litres of Byrrh annually. In 1914, Mary assumed leadership of her husband's enterprise and oversaw its significant expansion, a legacy continued by her children Jacques and Simon in 1920. By 1934, Byrrh had emerged as France's premier aperitif brand, with annual sales reaching approximately 35 million litres.
Replete with auspicious symbolism underscoring wishes for long life and happiness, this large hanging would have likely served as gift to commemorate the seventeenth birthday of a female figure, as the inscription suggests.
Cranes were deemed vehicles transporting the immortals to heavens, whilst large peaches grew in the enchanted garden of the Queen Mother of the Western Immortal Realm, who every three thousand year held a banquet for all the immortals, featured in the upper register, to enjoy her large peaches that prolonged their life for another six thousand years. In addition, the scenes on the lower register conveys the birthday wish 'May the length of your life be eternally prolonged' Hai wu tian shou 海屋添寿'. This originates from the 'Conversations of Three Old Men', from the 'Collected Writings by Su Dongpo' Dongpo Zhilin 東坡志林, by the Northern Song scholar Su Shi (1037-1101 AD). During one chance meeting of three Immortals, the topic of age was broached. Each one of the sages tried their best to exaggerate their own great age. The second sage famously boasted, 'After every cycle of the sea drying up and becoming mulberry fields, I put a strip of bamboo in my house as a counter and now the tallies have already filled ten houses'.
Bid on this lot
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY 女士藏品
A LARGE CORAL-RED-GROUND SILK EMBROIDERED 'LONGEVITY' HANGING
19th century
Finely embroidered with a seaside scene featuring a pair of cranes standing on pitted rocks amidst pine trees, branches of large peaches, peonies and bats, surrounded by a border of leiwen designs interspersed with three Shou medallions and the Eight Auspicious Symbols, between two bands of scrolling lotus and between a gathering of immortal figures on the upper register and a flock of cranes carrying a tally besides a pagoda on the lower register.
430cm (169 2/8in) high x 186cm (73 1/8in) wide.
十九世紀 緞繡紅地「海屋添壽」圖大掛屏
Provenance: a distinguished private European collection
Marie Joséphine Eugénie Brégère-Kromer Violet (1864 - 1921) and thence by descent
來源： 顯赫歐洲私人收藏
Marie Joséphine Eugénie Brégère-Kromer Violet (1864 - 1921)，並由後人保存迄今
Marie Joséphine Eugénie Brégère-Kromer Violet, a wealthy French lady, married Lambert Violet in 1899. Lambert was the son of Simon Violet, a prominent wine producer who, in 1873, created Byrrh, a renowned aromatised wine aperitif blending wine with mistelles and botanicals. Initially marketed as a health tonic, Byrrh faced challenges competing with established local aperitif producers. However, the business thrived, growing from a modest operation to one of significant scale.
The business began modestly with just a few small barrels of wine, but as demand grew, so did the size of the wine barrels. Following Simon's passing in 1891, his son Lambert assumed control of the family business and embarked on the construction of vast cathedral-like cellars in Thuir. These cellars housed 70 oak vats with a combined capacity exceeding 15 million litres of wine, making them the largest in the world upon their inauguration in 1892. By 1910, the company boasted 750 employees and distributed over 30 million litres of Byrrh annually. In 1914, Mary assumed leadership of her husband's enterprise and oversaw its significant expansion, a legacy continued by her children Jacques and Simon in 1920. By 1934, Byrrh had emerged as France's premier aperitif brand, with annual sales reaching approximately 35 million litres.
Replete with auspicious symbolism underscoring wishes for long life and happiness, this large hanging would have likely served as gift to commemorate the seventeenth birthday of a female figure, as the inscription suggests.
Cranes were deemed vehicles transporting the immortals to heavens, whilst large peaches grew in the enchanted garden of the Queen Mother of the Western Immortal Realm, who every three thousand year held a banquet for all the immortals, featured in the upper register, to enjoy her large peaches that prolonged their life for another six thousand years. In addition, the scenes on the lower register conveys the birthday wish 'May the length of your life be eternally prolonged' Hai wu tian shou 海屋添寿'. This originates from the 'Conversations of Three Old Men', from the 'Collected Writings by Su Dongpo' Dongpo Zhilin 東坡志林, by the Northern Song scholar Su Shi (1037-1101 AD). During one chance meeting of three Immortals, the topic of age was broached. Each one of the sages tried their best to exaggerate their own great age. The second sage famously boasted, 'After every cycle of the sea drying up and becoming mulberry fields, I put a strip of bamboo in my house as a counter and now the tallies have already filled ten houses'.
