A RARE EMBROIDERED SILK IMPERIAL LANDSCAPE18th Century The panel finely embroidered in gold thread and counted satin stitch with a landscape scene depicting shrubs of lingzhi , paulownia and prunus issuing from Taihu rocks, all interspersed with four of the Five Noxious Creatures including the snake, centipede, scorpion and toad issuing an elegant pavilion from the vapours of its mouth, all beneath the sun and trailing clouds, all on a gilded background, bordered with a leiwen band and a midnight-blue brocade woven with a lotus scrolls, framed and glazed. Actual silk surface 99cm (39in) wide x 68cm (26 6/8in) high. 十八世紀 刺繡山水紋屏 The group of the 'Five Poisons', Wudu , including the toad, lizard, scorpion, centipede and snake, was thought to form an elixir that neutralises evil during the 'Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwujie , which fell on the fifth day of the fifth month. The event marked the beginning of summer and it wasmonly believed that one could ward off the potential negative influences caused by the five animals by possessing a charm which incorporated their imagery. The absence of the spider from the presentposition suggests that the present textile was once a slightly larger panel that incorporated the multi-legged insect. Stylistically, the present panel can bepared to a number of silk embroidered textiles in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The shaded blue rocks and double-layered lingzhi fungi, for example, closelypare with those embroidered on a silk panel embroidered with auspicious designs of birds and flowers, Qianlong, illustrated in Theplete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Textiles and Embroideries of the Ming and Qing Dynasties , Hong Kong, 2005, p.198, no.219; by the same token, see a silk embroidered scroll depicting a landscape with pavilions, mid Qing dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Ibid. , p.199, no.220.