Admonitions Scroll

The Admonitions Scroll is a Chinese narrative handscroll painted on silk, traditionally attributed to Gu Kaizhi, although scholars now date it to between the 5th and 8th centuries and consider it possibly a copy of a Jin dynasty court painting. It illustrates a poetic text written in 292 by the official-poet Zhang Hua, composed as a reproach to Empress Jia Nanfeng and as advice for the women of the court. The scenes combine anecdotes about exemplary historical palace ladies with everyday scenes of palace life, unfolding horizontally as the scroll is read. The scroll is incomplete, lacking the first three of its twelve original scenes. Its importance lies in being one of the earliest surviving Chinese handscrolls and in its enduring reputation as one of the most famous Chinese paintings anywhere. Recorded from the Northern Song period, it passed through many collectors, whose seals still mark it, and reached the British Museum after the Boxer Rebellion. Its dating remains debated, and a later monochrome paper copy from the Southern Song, now in Beijing, helps reconstruct the full composition.

Painter

Gu Kaizhi

Date

0700

Museum

British Museum, London Borough of Camden

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