Enthroned, Reviewing the Scroll

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This polychrome figure in a red robe with a long beard sits high on a golden throne, reading. He wears a jewel-set gold crown; his face is lean, the beard gathered into a single fall from his chin, two locks against his cheeks, and his eyes are lowered to the scroll unrolled in his left hand while his right hand holds a brush poised above its surface — caught at the very moment of annotation. The great red robe is dense with pattern: a golden dragon-head roundel at the centre of the chest, wide orange-yellow cuffs, a blue-green dragon coiled at each knee, and a vertical band of gold patterning running down the centre of the skirt. The chair is gold from top to bottom, its high back and armrests wound with dragons and covered in carving with scarcely a blank space left; the platform below is red-faced with gilt edges. Red robe against gold throne — an enthroned authority that fills the room, made for the principal seat of a hall, the most commanding of this throne series.