Unknown Maker, Chinese

This red satin cloth with vibrant gold-wrapped yarn embroidery is filled with auspicious imagery and would have been used as a frontal for an altar table. Though

the iconography suggests a Taoist context, this frontal may have been used for ancestral rituals as well.

Two roundels framed by peach branches contain two cranes each. The birds hold counting sticks in their beaks and fly toward a pavilion by the sea. This scene refers to the tale of Taoist sages who counted their age in terms of epochs, not years, and would add a counting stick to a pile to mark each epoch of man. The pavilion represents a Taoist paradise, while the peach branches and cranes represent longevity.

Above, six smaller roundels alternately depict the “three happinesses” (peach, pomegranate, and Buddha’s hand citron) or a bat with a ruyi scepter (which together symbolize the sentiment “May you have every joy and happiness as you wish”). Below are symbols of the mountain and the cosmic waters with floating dragon fish.