AN IMPERIAL CHESTNUT-GROUND SILK 'BATS AND SHOU SYMBOLS' BROCADE PANEL Wanli

110cm (43 2/8in) high x 52cm (20 1/2in) wide.

Finely woven in a repeating pattern with six rows of large bats in flights, each carrying a vaporous lingzhi cloud supporting a golden Shou character, all interspersed with cruciform clusters of wispy clouds and reversed wan symbols on a light-chestnut ground, mounted.

明萬曆 御製福壽紋錦

Provenance: Jacqueline Simcox Ltd., London
An English private collection

Published and Illustrated: Jacqueline Simcox Ltd., Chinese Textiles and works of art, London, 2005, p.25

來源：倫敦古董商Jacqueline Simcox Ltd.
英國私人收藏

出版著錄：J.Simcox，《Chinese Textiles and works of art》，倫敦，2005年，頁25

Delicately woven with elegant designs conveying a highly-powerful and auspicious symbolism, the present panel may have been commissioned for the Wanli Emperor. An identical silk panel was excavated from the tomb of the Wanli Emperor, illustrated by Zhao Qichang and Wan Wang, The Royal Treasures of Dingling Imperial Ming Tomb, Beijing, 1989, p.271.

Combined with bats, homophone for happiness fu, the Shou characters, symbolising longevity, represent the rebus 'May you live happy for eternity', fushou. In addition, the combination of Shou and double wan from the rebus Wan Wan Shou meaning 'May you live for 10,000 years', which was the Imperial birthday greeting for the Emperor.

The combination of bats and Shou characters appears to have been reserved for use by the Emperor and his innermost family circles. See an embroidered silk festive badge, Wanli, decorated with the Shou characters and double wan, similarly positioned over a cluster of ruyi clouds on the back of an animal, a deer in this case, illustrated by J.Rutherford and J.Menzies, Celestial Silks: Chinese Religious & Court Textiles, Sydney, 2004, no.40.