This jacket was handed down to me from my grandmother. I am wondering about the age and the subject matter of the design. It looks like a sea life scene depicting a giant squid to me (or a swimming dragon?) Anyway, I don't know a thing about chinese jackets so I was hoping someone here could help me. It is silk and I believe it is hand stitched. Thank you very much!
you have a lovely kimono there...just doing a basic search for chinese folklore dragon, this is the first and informative entry from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_dragon if i remember right, the last time i researched a kimono there was a TON of information out there, too. the circular design element is often referred to as a Mon. many kimonos are based on folklore or traditional stories; it will be interesting to see what you can dig up!
I can tell you it is Chinese. These are very hard to date as the styles lasted so long. Again, a guess is that is is pre WWII, maybe 1920s - 30s and made for the Western Market. The trim technique is called couching, where decorative threads or fibers are attached to a base fabric by sewing small threads over them. One thing about Chinese traditional clothing is that the Chinese names are very confusing due to so many dialects. Rather than kimono, which is a Japanese term, I'd just go with the simple 'Robe'. Hollis
