Elderly Man
First Floor:
- Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke (painting)
- Benjamin N. Duke (painting)
- Tending The Flock (painting)
- Beach Scene (painting)
- Mary L. Duke (painting)
- Angier B. Duke (painting)
- William K. Boyd (painting)
- Thomas J. Jarvis (painting)
- Washington Duke (painting)
- Duke University in Picture (book)
- Bessie Whitted Spence (painting)
- Benjamin N. Duke (painting)
- James H. Southgate (painting)
- Grand Master Clock
- Eva Earnshaw Malone (painting)
- Benjamin N. Duke (marble bust)
- Library Table
Second Floor:
- James A. Thomas and Two Eunuchs (photograph)
- Dorothy Quincy Hancock Read (photograph)
- Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek (photograph)
- Sarah P. Duke (painting)
- Mary Duke Lyon (painting)
- The Reapers (painting)
- Marble Lions (statues)
Thomas Room:
- James A. Thomas (painting)
- Porcelain Urns with Mythical Beasts
- Embroidered Bedspread
- Chinese Rug
- Ishii Vases
- Carved Chests
- Wei To (embroidery)
- Elderly Man (scroll)
- People in Outdoor Setting (scroll)
- Lady in Red (scroll)
- Calligraphy (scroll)
- Porcelain Lion Lamps
- Table with Marble Top
- Cheang Park Chew (painting)
- Porcelain Urns with Lids
- Chinese Cabinet
- Imperial Robe
- Coromandel Screen
- Teakwood Tables
- Altar Table
- Embroidered Scroll with Nine Figures
- Winter Landscape (ink on silk)
Elderly Man, Silk scroll, 42" x 72"
The man painted on this silk scroll probably represents a family ancestor. His body and elaborate robes are stylized and two-dimensional, yet his face is modeled, giving the impression that this could be a life portrait. The family treated such ancestral figures with respect and often informed them of important domestic concerns.
The ancestor's hat identifies him as dating from the Qing Dynasty, in the mid-eighteenth century. The patch with a bird, pictured on the front of his robe, is called a mandarin square, a badge of first rank, prescribed for official robes by the sumptuary laws of 1391. The colorful pheasant embroidered on this patch indicates that the man was a civil official of the first or second rank. Five bats surround the shield and dragons decorate the shoulders, sleeves, and skirt.
This scroll was one of four donated to the Library in 1962 by Mrs. James A. Thomas. The other three, one depicting a lady, another a group setting, and the third calligraphy, also hang in the Thomas Reading Room.
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