Antique Floral Manila Manton Cantonese Shawl with Double Sided Embroidery

Heavily and finely hand embroidered silk on silk

The embroidery is double-sided and in a casual glance it is hard to tell which is the correct side.

How was this double sided embroidery done? No knots in the embroidery? How does the thread stay in place if there is no knot? These complexities make the craft within the textile as powerful as the cultural story contained within it.

The base color is a rich warm dark-beige-almond that sets of the red very very elegantly!

The photos do not do justice to the piece. Jewel-like colors!

Also known as Piano Shawl, Fringed Flapper Shawl & Flamenco Shawl.

The lives of Manila Mantons covered 3 regions: China, Philippines & Spain. Produced in Canton, they were named after the trading port Manila and finally used and coveted by women in Spain (and later other Spanish colonies) a few centuries ago.

Silk 64" x 64" with 24" Macrame

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This item has spent a lifetime being used for the purpose of its creation with the original artist/user. Signs of this life lived heartily may be present on the piece in the form of stains, thread loss, loose threads, holes, tears, color run and other imperfections. Therefore the condition must be assumed to be “not” perfect. More photos of such imperfections will be provided on request.

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