Embroidery

China , 19th century

Dimensions: Height 20 cm Width 22,5 cm

Weight: 19,7 grams

Made for a civil official of the ninth rank and worked in stitch and couched thread, the white, long-tailed bird (lanque) shown facing the sun as it stands on one leg atop a rock emerging from waves above a broad gold stripe, and surrounded by the bajixiang (Eight Buddhist Emblems) and the wufu amidst lingzhi-shaped clouds, within a border of flower scroll, all picked out in shades of blue, coral, white, green and yellow, and outlined in couched thread