Embroidered Panels with Design of the Chinese Characters for “Longevity” and “Good Fortune” 18th-19th century
anonymous
minneapolisinstituteofart
panel, textile
natural stone pattern
wood texture
toned paper
panel
water colours
pottery
textile
tile art
coffee painting
wooden texture
watercolour bleed
watercolor
These two panels, created anonymously in the 18th-19th century, are embroidered with Chinese characters that represent “Longevity” and “Good Fortune.” These characters are repeated in different styles and colors on a turquoise background. The panels are framed in a gold mount and frame, and housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The repetition of the auspicious characters creates a visually pleasing and symbolically meaningful artwork.
Comments
Each of these six panels features twenty-four Chinese characters, alternating between the characters for “longevity” (壽) and “good fortune” (福). The characters, embroidered in gold thread on a light-blue ground, represent a wide variety of scripts. Some are traditional, while others are less orthodox, including characters whose brushstrokes are formed by stylized bamboo, fish, or birds. These panels—probably from a set of eight or ten panels mounted individually or as a folding screen—would have been used as an auspicious backdrop for a sixtieth birthday celebration. The sixtieth year (called hwangap in Korean), marking one’s survival through a full sexagenary cycle (the twelve-pronged, sixty-year zodiac calendar), receives special commemoration in many cultures within the Chinese cultural sphere, even today.
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