Woman's Informal Jacket with Antiquities in Medallions

Every roundel embroidered on this jacket is different, but each one has the "hundred antiques" as its theme. The vessels and objects in the roundels are supplemented not only by flowers and fruit but also, occasionally, by fantastic or symbolic animals—for example, the ox

symbolizing strength in the upper roundel, and the fantastic lion, which is accompanied by a bat representing good fortune, seen in the roundel at the lower right. At the bottom of the jacket, sketchily embroidered rocks, trees, and flowers form a scene of a Daoist (Taoist) paradise inhabited by cranes and deer.

Credit: Purchase, Gifts in memory of Theodore Y. Hobby, 1963