Embroidered Panel Wall-Hanging
date: label: Accession Date
content: 16 Dec 1955
name: label: Donor Name
content: Gen. Alvord V. Anderson
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Embroidered panel wall hanging, yellow satin field with dispersed embroidered cloud figures, panel has been cut off at one end, consequently instead of the expected 9 embroidered dragon figures, there are but 3 5-clawed dragons in metallic gold thread, other embroidered figures: fish, bat with swastika, fan, sea shell, mystic diagram, yin-yang, border: blue satin is embroidered with clouds, figure of mystic diagram, bats and vase, lotus, border also cut off at the end."
label: Notes
content: "According to the donor's letters, the panel was cut off at one end before donation; It should be noted that there were also symbols of longevity found on this object, however these may have been interpreted as the aforementioned "yin-yang" during the original examination." Per Stephanie Beaumont; see attached multimedia pdf in accession record 202518.
label: Notes
content: "Bat: Called bianfu in Chinese, the second character, fu, is a homophone for good fortune (also pronounced fu); it also symbolized longevity and happiness. Red bats mean "widespread good fortune" and five bats are a wish for the Five Blessings: longevity, wealth, good health, virtue, and a peaceful death. Bats and the swastika mean "ten thousand-fold wishes for good fortune and happiness."" - source of above information on bats and swastikas is "Rank and Style: Power Dressing in Imperial China", 2008 online exhibit of the Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, https://web.archive.org/web/20160624035350/http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/rankandstyle/html/symbols.stm. Also, in China the Buddhist swastika (called the Wan symbol) was seen as a symbol of plurality, eternity, abundance, prosperity and long life.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Aug 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Beijing (Peking), Summer Palace, China, Asia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chinese
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 202518
label: USNM Number
content: E393353-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Wall Hanging