115 - A large imperial yellow-ground embroidered 'dragon and eight Buddhist emblems' altar frontal, zhuowei

A large imperial yellow-ground embroidered 'dragon and eight Buddhist emblems' altar frontal, zhuowei Qing dynasty, mid-19th century Embroidered in couched gold thread with a central front-facing five-clawed dragon flanked by four striding dragons with upturned heads, amidst ruyi-form clouds, bats and Buddhist auspicious emblems worked in satin stitch, all above a band oflishui waves, the upper frieze embroidered with a pair of confronting dragons embroidered in couched gold thread, 77 x 321cm. 清十九世紀中期 御製明黃地刺繡八吉祥龍紋桌圍 The unusually long format of the present textile suggests that it may originally have served as a surround for an Imperial banquet table rather than as a conventional altar frontal. A comparable arrangement can be seen on a reproduction of an Imperialdayan zhuo weidang(大宴桌圍擋, ‘grand banquet table surround’) in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing. 此件織物的尺寸比例異常修長，顯示其原用途可能是帝王宴席桌的圍幔，而非一般的佛壇桌圍。北京故宮博物院藏有一件帝王大宴桌圍擋（大宴桌圍擋）的複製品，可見類似的陳設形式。