1254 Antique Manila Manton with Historical Scene

Antique Double Sided Embroidery Manila Manton - Cantonese Embroidery

Dense stitches

Made in Canton, China in 1880-1900

Antique shawl with soft colored embroidery on white silk base

Profusely embroidered with figures and scenes

Excellent piece for use as a style accessory or as a collectible!

Also known as Piano Shawl, Fringed Flapper Shawl & Flamenco Shawl.

The size is 160 x 160 cm without the fringe. The fringe itself is 42 cm long out of which 18cm is woven.

MASTERPIECE COLLECTION

Additional notes provided by a guest D. O'Donovan:

'The man holding the child is dressed as a high ranking – noble spirited – warrior, and this suggests a man deeply loyal. So I would look – as my first option, anyway – for a story where an infant and its royal mother were brought back from across the sea. Although the guard’s face isn’t red, I would suggest the scene might be part of the history of Guan Yu. There is a famous story that after a battle, Guan Yu asked to marry the wife of an enemy, Qin Yilu. She was known as the Lady Du (杜氏) and already had a son named Qin Liang. After several reminders, the the ruler (Cao Cao) became extremely curious about why this fierce warrior should show such eagerness, and had the lady and her son brought to his presence. It is a famous story about retainers’ loyalty and rulers’ perfidy because Cao Cao then “took Lady Du as his concubine” – though he did adopt her son.the water is depicted as river-water, not sea-water, and the craft is a river craft.'

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This item has spent a lifetime being used for the purpose of its creation with the original artist/user. Signs of this life lived heartily may be present on the piece in the form of stains, thread loss, loose threads, holes, tears, color run and other imperfections. Therefore the condition must be assumed to be “not” perfect. More photos of such imperfections will be provided on request.

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