Length: 37 inches, 94 cm
Width: 26 1/2 inches, 67.5 cm

45-kesi-silk-panel-with-dragon-detail

Kesi silk panel with dragon

China, second half Ming dynasty, 16th/17 century

A silk panel embroidered in kesi technique, depicting a front-facing five-clawed dragon, chasing a flaming pearl among ruyi-shaped cloud scrolls. The panel is executed in blue, red, green, white and pink on a mustard yellow ground.

This wonderful panel is executed in the kesi technique, a complicated tapestry technique, which began to flourish in China between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries.  This panel with its wonderful five-clawed dragon might have been designed originally as a chair cover.

明/缂丝龙纹绣片

缂丝是中国一门古老的丝织技艺,在1_1_世纪至1_3_世纪的中国十分兴盛,常用于官用丝织品的制作中,中国民间自古有“一寸缂丝一寸金”的说法。此幅绣片表现了一条正面五爪龙追逐宝珠的情形,龙形态舒展有力,面部威武凶悍,明代风格明显。此外,此绣片的色彩构成协调自然,繁而不乱,可见有杏黄色为地,搭配以蓝、红、粉、绿以及白色丝线织成祥云、龙以及宝珠等物象,配色威严而不失生动。