De Gournay Thousand Li of Rivers & Mountains Wallpaper

Hand-painted wallpaper. Delft colourway on Bleached White dyed silk.

A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains is based on a beautiful scroll painting made for Emperor Huizong from the Song Dynasty. An artist himself, who taught and inspired artists of the time, he considered one of the main purposes of painting to be the attainment of a ‘poetic idea’, referred to as Shiyi. ‘Li’ within the name of this design translates to ‘500 miles’ which is perfectly depicted in the sweeping scene of rivers making their way through a mountainous backdrop, with houses and forests nestled within the valleys.