Help with translation please....

[shaneb]

I have attached a JPEG of some chinese text on a small tapestry.....would it be possible to translate this for me?

Many thanks in advance.

Shane

[SiMaKe]

Does your tapestry look something like this?

[skylee]

周文矩玉步搖仕女圖 A picture of beautiful woman/women wearing dangling jade hairpins/hair ornaments painted by Zhou Wenju.

Zhou Wenju was a painter who lived over 1000 years ago.

步搖 is a type of hair jewellery that dangles when the wearer walks. I learnt this word from the famous tang poem 長恨歌 - 雲鬢花顏金步搖，芙蓉帳暖度春宵.

[shaneb]

Thank you both for your replies! How interesting! I have had this for years and never known what it meant.

I have attached a couple more photos of other characters....any idea what these mean?

I wonder how old it is.

Cheers

Shane

[shaneb]

Thank you again for your initial replies. Do the photos above mean anything?

Shane

[Peter2010]

They are 政和 (ad 1111-1118) and 宣和殿宝(seal of Xuanhe palace), respectively.

That is to say this painting was once owned by 赵佶, the eighth emperor of the North Song Dynasty.

[shaneb]

HI Peter,

Thank you! in your opinion what does that translate into?

Shane

[shaneb]

I have used transaltion sortware, and that appears to translate into

Governance

and

Vision and Temple Treasure

I know this is often a literal translation though, and I would appreciate someones opinion on this.

A family relative teaches English in China and he suggested the reddish seals could either be the identification/name of the artist, or they could be authentication seals (they're called chops) by the company that made the tapestry.

Thanks in advance.

Shane.

[Peter2010]

政和 was one of 赵佶’s era names.

宣和殿was the name of his palace where paintings and books were stored, today we would call it a loyal library. 宝 means something he (赵佶) treasured.

So 宣和殿宝 means the treasure of the Xuanhe Palace

[shaneb]

Thank you all for your valuable help.

Apologies if my replies looked a little odd. Any comments I made had to approved by a moderator during which time another reply had been made which made it look like I was asking a question that had already been answered.

I Will try and piece together this info and do a bit of research into the history. Based on what I have read, I am wondering if it is actually on silk. Although I have read in many places that they were often painted onto silk, this is stitched.

I havent actually found which painting this is based on yet, but it seems there was 6000 by this person during that period......very interesting reading I have to say!!! So much history!

Thanks again.

Regards

Shane