Minneapolis Institute of Art

Altar Frontal

China

Date

early 18th century

Medium

silk, satin

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Decorative textile panels like this were used to enliven altars in homes and temples during festive occasions. Most frontals are composed of two sections: a valance (upper section) and a main register, which are decorated with symbols appropriate to the use of the altar. Formal frontals like this one containing imperial dragon imagery were probably used on the ancestral altar tables of the nobility or within Confucian and Buddhist temples under court patronage. China, Asia

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.