AN UNUSAL RED-GROUND EMBROIDERED MANDARIN SQUARE

Details
AN UNUSAL RED-GROUND EMBROIDERED MANDARIN SQUARE
18TH CENTURY

Displaying a qilin, made for the wife of a first rank military official, the animal prancing on rockwork issuing from turbulent waves with stylized clouds, pine and the sun above, worked in satin-stitch with multi-colored threads, reserved on a rust-red ground within a band of gold couching
10in. (25.4cm.) across

Lot Essay

Examples of animal insignia made for women's garments are rare. Compare a pair of first rank insignia badges, dated to the late 18th/early 19th century, illustrated by Verity Wilson, Chinese Dress, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986, p. 31, fig. 8