A scroll of Wangquina’s yarn paradise

[Wangquina Xanadu Map]

Wangquina Xanadu Map, Qing Dynasty, 33 cm vertically and 185 cm horizontally
This embroidery shows the story theme of “Peach Blossom Land” with the na-sha technique. The picture is a long view scroll: in front of the cottage surrounded by streams and jungle, three or two people either support the old and the young, or bow to each other. In the house, lazy kittens crawl on the windowsill. In the bushes, the rooster crowed loudly. On the small bridge, a man in Dai Li who disembarked from the boat walked forward with an oar, facing a dog with its head raised and tail cocked, barking at each other. The mountains in the distance are meandering, and pavilions and pavilions are hidden in the dark trees. The sky is full of floating clouds and birds are flying. An idyllic landscape with clear water, green mountains, and tranquility. At the end of the scroll, the embroidery signature: “The picture of Taoyuan, which is similar to the painting of Silla Mountain people. Wang Kui in Wuzhong.” Na embroidered “Wang Kui’s seal” and “inkstone incense”
Embroideries are made of oblique threads, that is, with plain yarn as the base, and embroidered diagonally according to the warp and weft points of the gauze grid. Each stitch is assembled. The color is light, and there is chap in the hook, which is quite similar to the brushwork of green landscape in painting. The embroidered surface is fine and flat, and the expressions of people and animals are detailed, accurate and vivid. It is a masterpiece of na-sha
The Xinluo Mountain people, namely Hua Yan, a famous painter in the Qing Dynasty and one of the eight eccentric painters in Yangzhou, have profound attainments in flower-and-bird, figure and landscape painting, and have a profound influence on the painting world of later generations. After Tao Yuanming’s “Peach Blossom Land” poems and essays came out in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, scholars and painters of the past dynasties mostly recited poems and paintings on this theme, such as Han Yu’s “Peach Blossom Land” poems in the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Boju’s “Peach Blossom Land Painting” in the Song Dynasty, Qiu Ying’s “Peach Blossom Land Wonderland Painting” in the Ming Dynasty, and Wu Weiye’s “Peach Blossom Land Painting” volume in the Qing Dynasty.