Embroidery from a Cloud Collar: Ocean, Rocks, and Peonies
Cleveland Museum of Art Object Description
Against a deep blue satin ground, a peony tree emerges from an undulating sea. This embroidery was made using the needle looping technique, in which rows of detached loops are worked over silvered paper, attaching the ground only along the contours of the design. The design is filled with auspicious symbols, including the peony symbolizing wealth and honor, and the rock (shoushi 壽石) symbolizing longevity. There are small Buddhist symbols among the flowers, including the wheel of the law, a pair of conch shells representing the sounds of the Buddha’s teachings, and a swastika, an auspicious symbol signifying good fortune introduced into China from India with Buddhism.
| Creator Name | -- |
| Title | Embroidery from a Cloud Collar: Ocean, Rocks, and Peonies |
| Cultural Context | China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) - early Ming dynasty (1368-1644) |
| Creator | -- |
| Worktype | Embroidery |
| Date | 1300s |
| Cultural Context | China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) - early Ming dynasty (1368-1644) |
| Source | Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Material | silk and silver thread, silvered paper; needleloop embroidery |
| Curationist Record | https://www.curationist.org/works/work-cmoa-1993.10 |
| Dimensions | Overall: 63.8 x 60 cm (25 1/8 x 23 5/8 in.); Mounted: 69.8 x 67.3 cm (27 1/2 x 26 1/2 in.) |
| Technique | -- |
| Language | -- |
| Date | 1300s |
| Provenance | (Lisbet Holmes Textiles, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), ?–1993; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1993–; Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund |
| Style Period | -- |
| Rights | CC0 |
| Inscription | -- |
| Location | -- |
| Source | Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Subjects | -- |
| Topic | -- |
| Related Content | -- |