17TH/18TH CENTURY

Embroidered or woven chair covers, such as the present example, would have been draped over chairs to protect them while not in use. Compare the style of weaving to a kesi chair cover dated to the late 17th century from the William E. Colby Collection, now in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, illustrated by R.D. Jacobson in Imperial Silks: Ch'ing Dynasty Textiles in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, vol. II, Minneapolis, 2000, p. 891, no. 438.