An Imperial Edict Written on silk brocade woven with a pattern of scattered ruyi-clouds mounted as a hand scroll, the text arranged in standard form reading from left to right in Manchu, and repeated from right to left in Chinese characters, the Chinese text opening with a four-character title in a vertical line, Fengtian Gaoming, 'By Command of Heaven', flanked by a pair of dragons, followed by a long text ending with the date eighth year of the Shunzhi era, corresponding to 1651, stamped with a large seal impression, and continuing with the Manchu text. Early Qing Dynasty 12 x 105 inches (30.5 x 266 cm) [Fading especially to one seal mark, the mounting and margins with minor overall wear and small tears/losses, the title slip also with small losses]