This piece, previously the wrapper (external cover) for the Museum's handscroll painting Old Trees, Level Distance by Guo Xi (ca. 1000–ca. 1090) (see 1981.276), is a classic example of Northern Song tapestry of the same type as a famous uncut piece in the collection of the Liaoning Provincial Museum, China. The pattern has no precedent in China but demonstrates a strong affinity with silk tapestry of Central Asia, and it is likely that Uighur craftsmen from eastern Central Asia introduced both the technique and the design of such textiles.
