Exquisite Chinese Traditional Woven & Embroidered Fabrics - Handcrafted Home Decor, Clothing & Cultural Gifts

The value of this book far exceeds its price. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a love of Chinese textilesPhysically: This is a fabulous coffee table book. The book is oversized and comes with its own slipcase. The cover is wrapped in silk and the Chinese characters are raised. The borders of each page wrap around to create color images on all sides of the closed book. Most of the photography is excellent; often you can pick out individual stitches - an important consideration if you wish to study the techniques as well as the embroidery designs. Many of the examples of tapestry and embroidery pieces are not found in other books.Content: Well organized with multiple examples of each motif, it's meaning(s), and how it was used. For example, the phoenix takes up 32 pages with 65 photos; the author shows the ways males and females (luan & feng)are arranged to express "pleasant meeting" or "harmonious marriage". A phoenix in a field of flowers symbolizes peace, luck, wealth, and prosperity. What I most appreciated was the explanation of the less common motifs like the myna bird, daffodil, and spider as well as the allegorical and geometric patterns.Some minor negatives: Only 22 pages are given over to describing the history and creation of these textiles. Also, I would like to see pieces identified by more than just the Dynasty during which they were created. It would be beneficial to know the year or reign and the "school" of embroidery in order to trace how a motif developed. And I'd love to know the collection where the actual textiles are held.