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Chinese, China

Chair cover, early 1900s

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Chinese

Title

Chair cover

Year

early 1900s

Medium

Silk; compound weave

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • silk

Techniques

  • plain weave,
  • supplementary continuous patterning weft

Dimensions

Length: 161.3 cm (63 1/2 inches)

Place

China

Type

  • Textiles

Credit

Gift of Marshall H. Gould

Object Number

46.189A

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

From the Land of the Immortals

January 13 - April 22, 2012

These red woven silk chair covers would have draped over yoke-back armchairs, making them both more comfortable and symbolically significant. Each cover is organized into four registers, decorated with different symbols on a background of clouds, bats, and fretwork. At top two cranes fly beside the sacred mountain
emerging from the waters. This image appears reversed because it would have been draped over the back of the chair. The next register features a four-clawed mang
dragon holding a flaming pearl—a symbol of the world, knowledge, and power—in its coil and floating over mountains and waves. This central image is situated at
the height of a sitter’s chest. The seat is decorated with a lotus medallion, an appropriate symbol in this position as the lotus form was often used as a seat for Buddhas or deities. The final panel, which would have hung at leg height, shows the sacred tower over the waters flanked by two dragon-horses.

The Woven Image

September 24 - December 7, 1997

Related

Chinese, China

Chair cover, early 1900s

Chinese, China

Table cover, 1790-1800

More objects +

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Chair cover with the accession number of 46.189A. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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