Sleeve border. Pearl grey ground with "cracked ice" damask pattern. Embroidered with multicolor Buddhist and common symbols. Central gold characters ("Double Joy"). All natural dyes. Hems glued later. Brown stained area with small hole. Length: 96 cm; width: 8 cm. Background: silk, damask weave Pattern area: silk, gold wrapped silk; Chinese knot, couching Part of a woman's robe related to marriage. Early 19th century Symbolism: Double Joy-wedding; Peaches-longevity; Musical stone-harmony; Bat with pomegranate-fertility; Double cash-riches; Persimmons-joy; Joo-i-power; Rhino horn-protector; Mystic knot-longevity Mary V. Hays; S.F., Ca. (personal contact) Williams; Outines of Chinese Symbolism; pp. 64-7, 205-6. 232-4, 252, 276-7, 283, 299, 306, 245
Donor:
Arlene Miller Rolkin
Collection place:
China
Culture or time period:
Chinese
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Sleeve borders
Function:
2.4 Fine Clothes and Accoutrements not used exclusively for status or religious purposes