A Large Kesi Woven Silk 'Dragon' Panel
MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)
明 杏地緙絲龍紋桌墊
of rectangular section, densely woven with pale metallic, white, and details of red floss into the ground of warm apricot to dominate the vertical space with the serpentine coils of a large dragon's body boring through puffs of spiralized clouds, its gaze fixed upon a flaming pearl held aloft within its five-clawed foot and the whiplike firey wisps concentrating near a second, larger pearl in the sky; the rear feet stretching out below towards a narrow terrestrial diagram marked with rolling waves tossing amid daggerlike mountains and forking coral branches; the whole bordered with gold ground brocade and black trim.
Height 60 x width 39 1/2 in., 152.4 x 100.33 cm.
