Chinese Blossom Scroll Tea Towel

Exclusive to the British Museum, a tea towel with a peony design inspired by Empress Dowager Cixi’s hanging scroll Flowers.

The tea towel is part of a range accompanying the British Museum exhibition China’s hidden century.

This tea towel is made in the UK from 100% cotton and is machine washable.

The design is based on Empress Dowager Cixi’s hanging scroll featuring three peonies in an attractive pallet. The painting, dated 1902, is inscribed “Extravagant beauty blossoms welcoming anew the morning dew” and has Cixi’s large imperial seal impression.

Empress Dowager Cixi was the de-facto ruler of China from 1861 – 1908. She gifted artworks to visiting diplomats and officials to improve China’s international image and strengthen ties with foreign countries.  As the demand for imperially authored gifts grew, and to improve her own work, Cixi used ‘ghost’ artists of which several were female painters. These mostly ‘flower and bird’ paintings of various natural subjects always carried a consistent style, envisioned by Cixi.

A gorgeous homeware gift for lovers of Chinese art.