Chinese
Dragon Banner, early 19th century
Embroidered silk, metallic threads, 406.4 x 335.3 cm (160 x 132 in.)
This is a triangular embroidered Chinese silk flag with metallic fibers. It is a right triangle with the corner in the top left of the image, and it is missing the top right hand point. It is trimmed in sections of green on the diagonal and the left-hand edge, with each section containing a different embroidered image of floral-like designs in yellow, light blue and dark blue. The central triangle is dominated by a golden dragon that seems to disappear and reemerge in swirls of blue clouds. The dragon is embroidered in various hues of gold to indicate scales and has a line of hair running along its spine in the same light and dark blues as the clouds. The dragon is on a patchwork pink background.
Courtyard
Commentary
A dragon motif was stitched with silk and metallic threads onto the surface of this triangular banner. Its imagery and shape recall military banners from the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). While we do not know with certainty where the banner came from or what it was used for, it was possible that the collector and scholar Denman Ross (1853-1935) gave it to Isabella Stewart Gardner.