It's Not a Chicken

Here I've been calling it a chicken.  Turns out that it is really a feng or a feng huang.  Who knew?

We found this on eBay.  Here's what the seller had to say:
Description: This is a 19th Century, Qing [Ching] Dynasty, Chinese, embroidered, door
valance, Circa 1880’s. Used as interior, decorative accents for theatersets such as the Chinese
Peking opera. Such valances were often crafted from sturdy materials, embellished via bold
colors and large symbols/imagery, and purposely exaggerated to be visible from a distance.
Characteristics of this truly amazing piece includes: A handsome, centrally placed bird set
among peach blossoms and flora; prominent use of couched gold metallic thread as well as
couched cording; lightly spun silk thread accents/details; dimensional details rendered via
twisted paper cording placed underneath the metallic threads; beige, silk edging adorned
with mirrors in order to attract and reflect light; and rabbit fur edging. This valance is backed
with blue, cotton fabric. Exquisite in nature, it would make a striking statement as a
decorator’s piece on any feature wall. It is a must­have!! Please note, this valance shows
signs of wear commensurate with age and use including silk breakdown, loss of thread, loss
of fur edging, loose threads, missing/damaged mirrors and staining. Additionally, minor
restoration has occurred to include stabilization of some of the metallic threads.
Dimensions: 45.5” x 23.5”

Wikipedia describes it:  A common depiction of fenghuang was of it attacking snakes with its talons and its wings spread. According to the Erya's chapter 17 Shiniao, fenghuang is made up of the beak of a rooster, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish.^[1] Today, however, it is often described as a composite of many birds including the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.

Sure looks like a chicken, but perhaps it does have a parrot beak.  Do you see the other animals?

Wikipedia provides more information:

Fenghuang  are mythological birds of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The males were originally called feng and the females huang but such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and they are blurred into a single feminine entity so that the bird can be paired with the Chinese dragon, which is traditionally deemed male.

The fenghuang is also called the "August Rooster"  since it sometimes takes the place of the Rooster in the Chinese zodiac. In the West, it is commonly called the Chinese phoenix or simply Phoenix, although mythological similarities with the Western phoenix are superficial.

Now you know!

Some restoration may be wise.  We'll see.  

It's mounted to a rod and hung in a corner away from sunlight.

It should not deteriorate any further, and it's not where it would be touched or bumped.

Definitely adds drama to that corner!

Can you imagine all that fine stitchery for a backdrop for a theater!

Why So Slow???

To stabilize the coverlet and make it usable takes a lot of time and careful stitching.  Also, remember sewing is not one of my talents.  My hands are awkward and clumsy.  And the coverlet is fragile.

Here's an example of what needs to be done.
I am tacking from the blue paper going down.  The hole is less than two inches long.

You may notice the color is different.  

In the time I was stitching, the sun moved away from the window, so the light is different.

There are some places where I can just do long running stitches, but where needed, I am trying to tack, stabilize, and pull together at the same time.

Lots to do!

It's a lot of work, but it will make it possible to enjoy it for years to come.

Stabilizing a Lace Coverlet - 50 Inches a Day

50 inches a day!

We found an amazing bit of handwork.  It's almost a sampler.

It measures 76 x 84 inches.

There is a huge variety of patterns.

I have not counted the number of distinct designs.

The large squares are 6 by 6 inches.

They are held together by strips of linen with cutwork and crochet.
The rectangles are 3 by 6 inches.  The small squares are about 3 x 3.

 Alas, much of the linen is shattered.  Seams are pulling apart.  And the crochet is falling apart in places.

In order to be able to see and to use it, we decided to tack it to a background sheet to stabilize it.  I began the tacking today, and that's when I learned I can do 50 inches a day.  If I do that every single day, this will be finished in less than three months.


Did you wonder how we decided on the background?

We tried it with a dark background.  The contrast was clear, but the color was distracting.

We tried it with a white background, and you could not really see the work.  And that's the whole point.

So we settled on a chartreuse green.  This will go in a bedroom with beige and white curtains and beige walls.  Very restful.  It would have made a stunning tablecloth, but it is too fragile to stand up to laundering.  So it will be a summer bedcover.

I will need to talk to my crafty buddies.  Is this crochet?  Tatting?