Painting in ink and watercolour on paper depicting scene of women feeding silk worms with mulberry leaves under a pavilion with a thatched roof. Six women divided into two groups of three are depicted chatting and putting silk worms into a wooden tray of mulberry leaves. Two little boys are looking attentively into a bamboo basket under a tray. An upright rack with five trays of silk worms and mulberry leaves are in the background. Water, possibly a pond, is to the lower left. The painting is one of fifteen scenes, on white paper in polychrome, depicting various stages in the culture of silk worms and the production of silk and silk textiles. The painting is in a glass mount. Artist unknown. Copied after Jiao Bingzhen's rendition of "Gengzhitu" (Illustrations of Tilling and Weaving), who was a court artist, active 1680-1720.
The paintings were probably made to be sold on the foreign market.
