A FINE GROUP OF SIX SILK BROCADE SUTRA COVERS

16th to 18th century

16th to 18th century
The first with a profusion of multi-coloured double gourds issuing from leafy vines and florets, all on a vibrant emerald-green ground; the second with a flying phoenix amidst blossoming lotus and foaming waves, all on a coral-red ground; the third with flying cranes interspersed with flowering shrubs on a deep-green ground; the fourth with seven dragon roundels alternating with cruciform clusters of ruyi clouds on a rich orange ground; the fifth with gilt designs of five-clawed dragons striding amidst vaporous ruyi clouds on a red ground; the sixth with blossoming lotus interspersed with flowering branches on a dark blue ground.
34cm (13 3/8in) long x 13.5cm (5 2/8in) wide. (6).

十六至十八世紀 織錦經面 一組六件

Provenance: a distinguished New York private collection, 1990's

來源：紐約顯赫私人收藏，於二十世紀九十年代入藏

Elegant covers composed of paperboard wrapped in decorative silk protected Buddhist scriptures, sutras, which were bound accordion-style. The covers thus protected the sacred words and presented the sutras in beautiful envelopes that signalled the importance of the contents within. The use of silk for sutras covers dates back to at least the Tang dynasty, but most extant examples are from the Ming dynasty and later, when the printing industry grew in China.

Sutra covers were typically made of lustrous silk, often highlighted by metallic thread, which made possible a wide array of patterns and designs including floral scrolls, Buddhist emblems, traditional Chinese symbols of blessings, and Chinese auspicious characters with auspicious meanings.

Compare with a related plain-weave silk sutra cover, 16th century, decorated with gilded designs of dragons and clusters of ruyi clouds, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc.no. 2011.221.36. See also eight further related silk sutra covers, 16th/17th century, decorated with various designs, illustrated by Xu Zheng and Zhao Feng, A Study of the Collection of Sutra Covers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Shanghai, 2019, pp.136-139.