Tai Neua silk commemorative bedcover, hanging, or gift wrapper

Chinalai Tribal Antiques, Ltd.

It is always a thrill to find any handwoven textile with a date: it brings importance to the piece but also acts as a benchmark for other similar textiles, both of which are significant in the case of this piece from northern Laos, dated 1938. This must have been a very auspicious date as two hands are pointing right at it. Together, an opening in the homespun cotton backing and the empty embroidered oval at center, indicate it might have been a bedcover that could be filled with cotton batting in colder weather for an as yet unnamed newborn. The momentousness of the occasion was further enhanced through a combination of embroidery and a supplementary weft weave that included metallic gold thread on an expensive woven silk ground to create a lovely, peaceful garden scene with foliage, flowers, butterflies and other insects.

$1,600.00

Artwork details