Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies

Charming exhibition at the British Museum of a Chinese scroll painting.

The work is layed out in two sections. The main one is delicate paintings showing ladies of the court how to behave based on a poem. The painting is dated from somewhere between 400 and 700 AD so is well over a thousand years old. It is quite astonishing.

As interesting is the second display case of the exquisite annotations added to it by various owners including emperors. It’s a piece with layers of story.

The work can only be shown for 6 weeks a year due to its fragility. I found it interesting that when I was there a large party of young Chinese students were in to see it and seemed entranced by it.

Closes 13 November 2022

 

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