One pouch worked with a bat flanked by ruyi clouds, all above the auspicious characters, wan fu and wan shou, prosperity and longevity, encircled by overlapping ruyi and wave borders, the straps with green carved stone clasps. Length 11x11 cm. Two oval cases, embroidered with stylized patterns. Length 15.5-16 cm.
Wear.
Property of a private Finnish Collection.
The collection was formed between 1980-2020, the collector has had an interest in China and Chinese Works of Art since childhood, growing up in Beijing. He returned to China in grownup years for work, he came to live in China altogether more than 40 years. His love of China, and Chinese works of art is mirrored in the collection and being an academic collector, he never got tired of learning more about the subject by studying literature, attending lectures, visiting museums, auction houses and befriending curators from Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Stockholm. The collection consists of both Chinese ceramics and textiles, This being a part of the textile collection.
Compare with eye-glass cases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art like this, dating them to 18th/19th century. For example, Credit Line: Bequest of William Christian Paul, 1929. Object Number: 30.75.682 and Object Number: 30.75.691 from the same collection.
The fretwork incorporates the broken cross, or swastika—an ancient symbol in Asia that is associated in China with the character wan, which denotes the number ten thousand and symbolizes longevity.