It passed through the hands of many collectors over the centuries, many of whom left their seals of ownership on the painting, and it eventually became a treasured possession of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796).

A monochrome paper scroll copy of the painting, complete in twelve scenes, was made during the Southern Song (1127–1279), and is now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, China.

The Admonitions Scroll was painted to illustrate an eighty-line poetic text written in 292 by the Jin dynasty official, Zhang Hua (232–300).

[6] It is not known when the first painting in illustration to Zhang Hua's text was made, but a lacquer screen painting from the tomb of a Northern Wei dynasty (386–535) official by the name of Sima Jinlong (司馬金龍, died 484), excavated in 1986, includes a panel illustrating the story of Lady Ban refusing to ride in the imperial litter, which corresponds to Scene 5 of the Admonitions Scroll.

[9] This imperial authentication of the painting meant that no-one seriously doubted that the Admonitions Scroll was a work by Gu Kaizhi until modern times.

[10] However, it was not until the 20th century that art historians determined on stylistic grounds that the painting cannot have been produced during the Jin dynasty, and therefore cannot be an original work by Gu Kaizhi.

[12] On the other hand, an increasing number of experts have rejected the supposed copyist's errors, and see the painting as a product of the preceding Southern and Northern dynasties period (420–589).

[13] One often mentioned example of a supposed copyist's error is the apparently confused representation of the palanquin frame in the scene of Lady Ban; but recent ultra-violet examination of the scroll has shown that there has been considerable repainting over a repair to damaged silk in this area.

At one extreme, Kohara Hironobu has suggested that the text was not added to the scroll until after 1075, using a deliberately antique Tang dynasty calligraphic style,[19] whereas more recently Wen Fong has stated that the calligraphy of the Admonitions Scroll is more closely related to the style of the monk Zhiyong 智永 who was active during the late 6th and early 7th century, and so the text would have been added during the late 6th century at a Southern dynasty court scriptorium.

[25] This scene illustrates the story of Lady Fan, a consort of King Zhuang of Chu (died 591 BC), who remonstrated against her husband's excessive hunting and lavish banqueting by refusing to eat the meat of any of the animals he killed for three years.

This scene is similar in construction to the painting of the same story on the lacquer screen from the tomb of Sima Jinlong (died 484), but whereas the lacquer painting shows Emperor Cheng alone in the palanquin, in the Admonitions Scroll another court lady is seated beside him, showing that he ignored the advice of Lady Ban, and highlighting the fact that his behaviour as emperor was seen to be responsible for the seizure of power by Wang Mang (45 BC – 23 AD) in 9 AD.

[2] The earliest seal to be accepted as authentic is a large imperial seal inscribed "Sagacious Contemplation, East Wing" (Chinese: 睿思東閣; pinyin: Ruìsī Dōnggé), which refers to the East Wing of the Palace of Sagacious Contemplation, which was an imperial palace built in 1075, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song (r. 1067–1085).

There is no hard evidence as to whether the scroll ended up in the Jurchen north or was taken to safety to the south of China, which remained under the control of the Chinese as the Southern Song (1127–1279).

[24] On the other hand, one of the end sections of the Admonitions Scroll incorporates seals of Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (r. 1189–1208), but as these are not on the painting itself, they may have been added at a later date from a different source.

[55] The whereabouts of the painting during the Yuan dynasty are unknown, and it is not mentioned by any of the art connoisseurs of the period, such as Zhou Mi (周密, 1232–1298) or Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322).

[55] The only clue to its possible ownership at this time is a seal on the painting inscribed "Ali" in 'Phags-pa script, which may be the name of a Uyghur official who served in southern China in the late 13th century and who is known to have had a collection of Chinese calligraphy.

[55] However, the painting did not stay in government ownership for long, as it was noted by He Liangjun (何良俊, 1506–1573) as being in the possession of the official Gu Congyi (顧從義, 1523–1588) during the 1560s.

It then entered the collection of wealthy art collector and pawnbroker, Xiang Yuanbian (項元汴, 1525–1590), who marked his ownership of the painting with about fifty seal stamps.

[57] Whilst the Admonitions Scroll was in the possession of Xiang, it was seen by the famous painter, Dong Qichang (董其昌, 1555–1636), who copied out the inscriptions to the paintings, which he believed to be by Gu Kaizhi, and published them in 1603 as calligraphic models.

[59] After the death of An Qi, the Admonitions Scroll passed into the hands of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796), who treasured the painting as the pinnacle of Chinese art.

[61] Like Xiang Yuanbian before him, Qianlong marked his ownership of the painting with numerous seal impressions (37 in total), which he apparently added at different times and on different occasions throughout his sixty-year reign.

After the suppression of the Boxers, there was a considerable amount of looting throughout the capital, and during this time of chaos Captain Clarence A. K. Johnson (1870–1937) of the 1st Bengal Lancers, who was stationed at the Summer Palace, somehow managed to acquire the Admonitions Scroll.

The keeper of the department of Prints and Drawings, Sidney Colvin (1845–1927), and his assistant, Laurence Binyon (1869–1943), recognised the significance of the painting, and in 1903 the British Museum purchased it from Johnson for the sum of £25.

[32] Since 1914 the painting has been housed in the North Wing of the British Museum, although it is only occasionally put on public display due to its sensitivity to light; namely, six weeks each year.