A RARE IMPERIAL EDICT DATED KANGXI 36TH YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1697

mounted as a handscroll, made from different colored brocade woven with a dense pattern of clouds and cranes, the text arranged in standard form reading from right to left in kaishu and repeated in Manchu script reading from left to right, the opening section decorated with two dragons flanking the characters fengtian gaoming (imperial mandate of heaven), repeated in the Manchurian section, with an imperial seal reading Zhi gao zhi bao (the Seal of Edict) and dated to the 19th day of the 7th month of the 36th year of Kangxi
Length 202 3/4 in., 515 cm; Height 12 3/8 in., 31.5 cm

Provenance:
Acquired in New York, 1944.