Queen Mother of the West, Xiwangmu Artist: Unknown

14th century

Asian Art

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

The elaborate costume and phoenix headdress firmly establish the figure in this intricate embroidery as Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West and head of the Daoist pantheon. This textile has an interesting history. A misleading title strip at right misidentifies the figure as Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, known in Sanskrit as Avalokiteshvara, and earlier scholars followed this identification. The title strip also erroneously categorizes the embroidery as a tapestry, another clue that the strip was added after the piece was produced, probably during a remounting.

Medium

Hanging scroll: silk with silk embroidery and applique

Dimensions

without mounting: 39 × 18 3/8 in. (99.1 × 46.7 cm)

Credit Line

Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore

Accession Number

1937.5599

Geography

China

Culture

Chinese

Period

Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Mrs. William H. Moore (1858–1955) New York; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1937

Bibliography
  • Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 301, ill
  • George J. Lee, Selected Far Eastern Art in the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970), 254, no. 467, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

portraits

Signed

No signature

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

View IIIF manifest

The International Image Interoperability Framework, or IIIF, is an open standard for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Visit iiif.io to learn more

Linked Art

API response for this object

Linked Art is a Community working together to create a shared Model based on Linked Open Data to describe Art.