Featured 12 foot Chinese embroidered panel with figures

I am not good at fabrics.
I know something about porcelains and paintings. However, bronze, stones and fabrics are not my expertise. I can only give some very normal and brief ideas.

 

Oops, I just realized it's 12 feet long, not 12 inches. Please ignore my suggested methods for displaying it.

 

Yes, that is a good idea.
Because of the pattern it shows, it looks not anything new. In addition, because the size of it is pretty rare, it could be used as decroation in ancestor Hall or Clan Hall. You SHOULD NOT sell it cheap without knowing the real value of it.

 

THANKS everyone

@moreotherstuff , you'll be happy to know I got up the gumption to contact the Royal Ontario Museum - they thought it was pretty funny that I called them from LA, but while their captcha to send an email wouldn't cooperate, my phone did!

I also contacted the Chinese American Museum, here in LA. I sent emails to both, so now just waiting

Thanks again!

 

@Asian Fever I got a little confused by the three opinions you gave, since I only posted one altar and @komokwa one other.

I don't know if separating (bifurcating!) my two altars was a good idea - or not?

 

I once called the L.A. County Museum of Art to see if there was a catalog to go with an exhibition of Faberge they were holding. There wasn't, but yeah... they were surprised to hear from Toronto.

Stranger yet, I once called the Pentagon looking for a photo I saw in a book on Vietnam. The book gave the photo an army credit, but I didn't have enough info to hope to find it. It felt very odd phoning the Pentagon.

 

1st one:


2nd one:


3rd one:

 

aha - thanks. Well, here's the first response from the exhibitions head at Chinese American Museum here in LA:

Thank you for contacting us. After reviewing our collections database, I am unable to locate anything similar so unfortunately I do not have any additional information for you. If you haven't already, you may wish to reach out to the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, the USC Pacific Asia Museum, or the Asian Art Museum to see if they may be able to assist you.

Not what I was hoping for... ! I asked for period, a translation on the red piece and possibly who the characters are on the large frontal.

 

There's no words on any of these three pieces, so I cannot translate.

As for another piece in another topic of you, I have tried and translated two words, but unfortunately, I don't know the other two words, and based on the picture you provide, I would like to guess that piece in another topic of you is possibly late Qing Dynasty. I cannot provide any further information. sorry about it

 

Thanks, @Asian Fever

You helped a lot - I'm glad I asked. I also found the info I wanted about the 8 immortals - don't know why that was so hard.

Thanks again!

 

Eight Immortals

The Chinese proverb "The Eight Immortals cross the Sea, each reveals its divine power" indicates the situation that everybody should show off their powers to achieve a common goal.

Seems appropriate for Antiquers

 

Hi all,
This is a banner mostly used in a big hall in a Chinese family or temple for important occasions and celebrations, but not during funeral. These type of pictures are called "Ba Xian Guo Hai". The Eight Immortals crossing ocean (八仙) are a group of legendary immortals in Chinese mythology. Each immortal's power can be transferred to a power tool (法器) that can bestow life or destroy evil. Together, these eight tools are called the "Covert Eight Immortals" (暗八仙). Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang or Song dynasty. They are revered by the Taoists and are also a popular element in the secular Chinese culture. They are said to live on a group of five islands in the Bohai sea which includes Mount Penglai.
Enticz

 

Thanks, @Enticz

I'm still waiting to hear back from Royal Ontario curator - she let me know they were busy working on an exhibit, so... But in the meantime, I did find this piece that's about half the size and sold for $249 in 2011 on Worthpoint.com

The embroidery has a very different quality, as it's done on gauze.

Large embroidered altar frontal, 19th C.
A large altar frontal, Chinese, 19th century, showing figures in a landscape.
Embroidery on gauze, the outlines done in gold thread. Size 176 x 67cm. This item is sold "as is", there are conditional issues.





Just for fun: the 7 Japanese Fortune Gods on an unlikely clock I came across - those are actually Toshikani porcelain buttons. I'm afraid to pry them off, so I guess I'll be selling the whole mash up as a clock.