Wall hanging

Silks from the Far East were sometimes given as gifts to British monarchs, though due to their fragility very few from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have survived. In 1793, they were among the items presented by the Qianlong Emperor to George III (1738–1820).This cream-coloured panel, decorated with a phoenix, is one of 14 silks sent to Queen Victoria (1819–1901) by the Guangxu Emperor (1875–1909) for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Thirty years later, panels of Chinese silk with dragon designs – perhaps also earlier gifts – would be incorporated into the curtains in the East Front of Buckingham Palace, in keeping with the Eastern-inspired decorative scheme there.