110 KU K'AI-CHIH'S SCROLL IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 



only the choicest favors they will disappear : your abund- 

 ance will perish. This is a fixed law. Beauty should be 

 natural. When it is artificial, it brings trouble upon itself. A 

 bewitching countenance that attempts to exhibit itself, is 

 always detested by a man of breeding. Closely-knitted 

 benignity will disappear and this will be the cause of it. 

 Therefore there is the saying ''respectful and careful." Thus 

 will your happiness be complete : tranquillity and respect will 

 be in your own thoughts and your honor will be resplendent. 

 These admonitions prescribed by an Imperial Preceptress ar,e 

 boldly addressed to all ladies of the Palace. 



Conclusion. 



The scroll speaks for itself. It is full of beauty and 

 grace, which are in no way dependent upon the age of the 

 painting. From the recorded descriptions of the style of 

 Ku K'ai-chih there can be no doubt that it is his style. 

 As to internal evidence of age, the earliest seal on the scroll 

 is that of the Emperor Hui Tsung (1100-1126) and the 

 earliest mention of it is in the Hsiian Ho Hua Pu, a catalogue 

 of the paintings of this same Emperor Hui Tsung. This does 

 not settle the question as to the age of this scroll, nor its 

 authenticity as a genuine production of Ku K'ai-chih. It 

 only carries us back in our evidence to A.D. 1120 and up to 

 the present, we are left at this date. It may well be that 

 later evidence will emerge which will carry us further back, 

 but whether or not it is forthcoming, we have in this scroll 

 one of the "Four Beauties" of the discriminating connois- 

 seur, the Emperor Ch'ien Lung, and one of the best examples 

 of early Chinese painting that there is left in the world. It 

 deserves every word of praise that can be said of it. Its 

 age must be left to documentary evidence. 



