AN IMPERIAL YELLOW-GROUND SILK EMBROIDERED CURTAIN WITH TREASURES, SHOU MEDALLIONS AND CLOUDS China, 19th ct. 298 x 108 cm Background: Vivid yellow damask silk woven with connected swastika and Shou medallions. Exceedingly fine and top quality embroidery from the imperial workshops with gold and silver threads for the dragon in appliqué technique and with colored silk in satin stitch. Sewn together from two narrow, identically patterned strips lengthwise. Buddhist treasures: Snail horn (with small flaming bead) and lotus. Red bats with swastika, resp. peaches in their mouths. Important German aristocratic private collection, assembled in China prior to 1904 and owned by the family since then Cf.: Imperial door curtain with soaring dragons, dated 17th/18th ct. Metropolitan Museum New York, Inv. No. 1977.2a-e Embroidery with minor wear, minor traces of age