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This was a present from a friend. Just wondering if it has any particular age to it... a family estate piece. Any info opinion welcome.

This embroidery looks to be Japanese, evidenced by the dragons which appear to be three-clawed (only two are showing up front but possibly meant to be a fist with one claw perhaps curled around the magical pearl of wisdom). Dragon lore has it that these creatures multiply their power when grouped in threes, with the most powerful assembly being three of these 'triads' or 'Nine dragons', which I believe may be 'Kuryu' in Japanese and are 'Jiulong' (九龍) in Mandarin Chinese (eponymous of Hong Kong Island's Mainland neighbor Kowloon). The link below has another one of these three-dragon embroideries, which are called 'Fukusa cloths' and used as gift wraps in Japan. However, there's a catch, in that traditionally if you receive a gift wrapped in a Fukusa, you aren't supposed to keep it but return it to your benefactor wrapped around a gift of equal value. Ahh, those clever Japanese.

Japanese experts may know better, but I'd guess this rather pristine piece dates to the late Meiji or Taisho period, circa 1900-1925.

Best regards,

Bill H.

https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/material-culture/antique-chinese-silk-embroidered-dragon-tapestry-1011959

I really appreciate your reply to my posting Bill and I was very interested to read the background to the trio of dragons and that the piece may be Japanese.... very kind of you to elaborate. Many thanks Angela

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