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Source Description
This European-style tapestry depicts a family gathering, in a woven Western picture frame, that presumably once furnished the Hall of Cultivating the Mind (<em>Yangxin dian</em>) in the Forbidden City. The tapestry employs Western perspective and shading combined with the traditional Chinese subject of a family gathering in a palace, including motifs expressing wishes for good fortune and for a peaceful reign. <br><br>In 1766, six French tapestries had been presented to the Chinese court. The Qianlong emperor was so intrigued that he commissioned tapestries in the French style from Suzhou. Records mention an imperial order for tapestries in the Western style, such as this one, in 1769, 1770, and 1775.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
122571
label
Family Gathering on New Year's Morning
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
122571
contentType
object
title
Family Gathering on New Year's Morning
description
This European-style tapestry depicts a family gathering, in a woven Western picture frame, that presumably once furnished the Hall of Cultivating the Mind (<em>Yangxin dian</em>) in the Forbidden City. The tapestry employs Western perspective and shading combined with the traditional Chinese subject of a family gathering in a palace, including motifs expressing wishes for good fortune and for a peaceful reign. <br><br>In 1766, six French tapestries had been presented to the Chinese court. The Qianlong emperor was so intrigued that he commissioned tapestries in the French style from Suzhou. Records mention an imperial order for tapestries in the Western style, such as this one, in 1769, 1770, and 1775.
date
late 1760s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80018934
genreSpecific
Tapestry
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 257.8 x 377.8 cm (101 1/2 x 148 3/4 in.)
cul
China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
accession
1942.825
Source extras
tec
Silk and wool: tapestry weave
tombstone
Family Gathering on New Year's Morning (緙絲毛掛毯：歲朝圖), late 1760s. China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Silk and wool: tapestry weave; overall: 257.8 x 377.8 cm (101 1/2 x 148 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of John L. Severance, 1942.825
titleInOriginalLanguage
緙絲毛掛毯：歲朝圖
collection
Textiles
citations
citation
"A Chinese Tapestry." <em>The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs</em> 25, no. 136 (1914): 231–230.
page_number
pp. 230–231
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art.<em> Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition June 6-September 20, 1916. </em>Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 174, no. 41
citation
Marceau, Henri, Horace H. F. Jayne, Calvin S Hathaway, Nancy Andrews Reath, and Boies Penrose. “The Stotesbury Collection.” <em>Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Museum</em> 28, no. 151 (1932): 19–31.
page_number
p. 30
citation
<em>Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942.
page_number
Reproduced: p. [57], Plate XXVIII, cat. no. 124; Mention: p. 60, cat. no. 124
citation
Milliken, William M., Gertrude Underhill, and Jean Mailey. "Department of Decorative Arts." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 29, no. 9 (1942): 137–151.
page_number
pp. 148–149
citation
Lee, Sherman E. “Varieties of Portraiture in Chinese and Japanese Art.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 64, no. 4 (1977): 118–136.
page_number
Mentioned: footnote 9, pp. 121 and 135
citation
Ball, Victoria Kloss. <em>Architecture and Interior Design: Europe and America from the Colonial Era to Today</em>. vol. 2. New York: Wiley, 1980.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 2.32, pl. 81
citation
<em>Imagining Qianlong: Louis XV's Chinese Emperor Tapestries and Battle Scene Prints at the Imperial Court in Beijing.</em> Hong Kong: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2017.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 56–57, fig. 1
citation
Rado, Mei Mei. “Qing Imperial Encounters with European Tapestries: The ‘Tenture Chinoise’ and Beyond.” In <em>Arachné / Textes Rassemblés Et Édités Par Pascal-François Bertrand Et Audrey Nassieu Maupas Seite. </em>Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2017.
page_number
pp. 119–135
citation
Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. <em>China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta</em>. Edited by Clarissa von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 394–395, no. 223
citation
Rado, Mei Mei. <em>The Empire’s New Cloth: Cross-Cultural Textiles at the Qing Court.</em> New Haven: Yale University Press, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 109, 134; Reproduced: p. 104, 11, fig. 94; p. 112-113, figs. 95–97; p. 135, figs. 114–115; p. 163, Back Cover
creditline
Bequest of John L. Severance
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:19:06.829000
sourceId
122571
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Silk and wool: tapestry weave
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
f6008feb60fc0755