Tapestry woven silk (<i>kesi</i>) picture on dark blue ground with some gold thread, depicting carnations and lily springing from rocks, and a butterfly.The <i>kesi</i> tapestry technique uses very fine silk threads, and colours are only woven on where the pattern requires, resulting in small gaps between woven patterns, giving the appearance of cut designs. This allows weavers a high degree of control over the pattern woven, and the technique was used to weave fine ink paintings into textile pictures.
As such woven pictures were usually based on Chinese ink paintings, and because the source picture was considered 'good art', such reproductions were also accepted and collected as art in their own rights, in albums.Panel, silk tapestry (<i>kesi</i>), China, Qing dynasty, 1650-1750.