Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 27. (Budapest, 2009)

Györgyi FAJCSÁK - Andrea FÜZES: Chinese Embroidered Screen from the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

12. Edge and missing parts oftunicfragment embroidery 13. The broken leg of theframe missing, the lower two-thirds of the front sections of the tunic may be exactly reconstructed from the embroidery on the back. The decoration of the front-closing tunic is based on the opposition of the decorative systems of the borders and the fields between them. A seven-centimetre wide border runs around the two front, opening sections of the garment, the neck opening, the shoulders, the arm openings, and the bottom of the back. The border image consists of figures among buildings, pavilions and flowers. The embroidered figures include the Immortal group of the eight Taoists: Zhongli Quan (head of the group, pot-bellied and holding a fan), Li Tieguai ("Iron-crutch Li", holding his crutch), Han Xiangzi (young boy with flute), Cao Guoqiu (dignified male figure, patron of actors, represented with a fly-swat), He Xian'gu, the only female member of the group, here with an animal behind her back, and Lan Caihe, holding a basket in his hand. 14. The mandarin buttons and decorative buttons of thefireplace screen frame, before restoration 172