Chinese
Furnishing or Garment Fabric with Medallion Motifs, 19th century
Voided silk velvet, 177.8 x 58.4 cm (70 x 23 in.)
This large, vertically long, approximately 19th Century Chinese fabric framed as a wall hanging, is made of thin silk velvet. The background is grey-blue with nine rows of three or four large, round medallions in each, separated by small repetitious black abstract figures. The medallions are made up of areas of black, non-representational figures and black wavy lines that loop throughout the medallions and form the outside circular perimeter, all of which allows the blue background to penetrate through. The wall hanging appears to consist of two sections of fabric conjoined about a third of the way from the bottom, as the medallions in this row are oblong rather than round and a prominent horizontal line cuts across the entire piece.
Long Gallery
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.