19th C. Chinese Silk Embroidered Robe Fragment—Pair of Phoenix
This looks like fragments of a robe cuff. It is very finely embroidered—the stitched are barely visible with the naked eye and the gradations of the feathers are so smooth it appears almost to be painted. Each phoenix is slighly different, probably one male and the other female—one has a convex beak, the other is concave; one has a pointed top knotch, the other is rounded; the tails are different and each has very fine and interesting symbols on the wings, which don't really show up well in the photographs because of the tiny scale. Both have the symbol of the whirling log on each wing signifying these are celestial creatures, as this represents the big dipper rotating around the north star throughout the seasons, and thus symbolizes the Eternal Blue Sky. Embroidery is mounted with woven ribbon onto a salmon-colored background silk and framed with a black and gold brocade of a later period with an inner edge of sky blue— a typical format for these 19th C. Chinese robe fragments. Finished size is 9 3/4" by 13 1/2".

Item#: text026
$85