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I acquired these three small (largest 8x20 cm (4x8 inches))parchment pieces together with a group of very old (possibly Yuan/Ming)silk paintings. The silk pieces are cut down from larger pieces that had deteriorated over time. Any help in identifying the writing would be appreciated

Are these really 'parchment'? Parchment is leather, this looks more like paper.

The first picture is incomplete, chopped of at the bottom, the third picture is upside down (which doesn't really matter, as it's easy to flip).

It appears to be a list, and maybe Japanese rather than Chinese (which may put the dates of the paintings to question). Some of the characters look rather like Kana, but when one considers that Japanese Kana are broadly based on Chinese CaoShu forms of characters that were homophones to the Japanese language sounds, and also that this looks very much like a quickly written list, they could be either.

More complete photos might help.

Hi Mike,
My apologies for the delay in replying. Your comments much appreciated and I thought I was well read. Yes they are old paper. I'm still comfortable with the C12-14th or earlier dating on the Chinese silks. Whilst it was not normal for silk paintings of this period to have attached (rather than on the silk) writings I know that some earlier Song (C11-12th) period similar type of silks had separate written attachments. Having said that the shorthand nature of Cao Shu, if it is that, is probably may not be consistent with the painting content (mainly birds).

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