Palace Ladies1644–1911 · Study 1954.369

Context from the museum

This handscroll illustrates the pursuits of court ladies in a palace precinct on a spring day. Women, young girls, and their maids amuse themselves by sitting on a swing, playing games, watering and admiring peonies, performing music together, playing the qin (zither), feeding a parrot on the balustrade and fish in the water, or catching butterflies. The life of elite women was mostly restricted to the so-called inner quarters, meaning the garden and inner courts of the house. This painting idealizes the world of young palace girls that in fact was often filled with boredom and waiting for a lover.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected overall measurement for Palace Ladies is 454.4 cm wide and 36.2 cm high, equivalent to approximately 178.9 × 14.3 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 12.55:1. The rectangular bounding area is 1.64 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 151.5% of the span before adding a frame. That exceeds the example wall width, so a smaller reference wall would not reproduce the recorded scale. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Palace Ladies in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, handscroll; ink and color on silk, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 454.4 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?