Happy New Year to you both! Nice to see you on the forum again, Steven. Can I suggest a good New Year's resolution for you................?
Chris, I contacted Martin Conlan to ask him to have a look at your coat as he has plenty of experience of Yao and a good eye. No direct ID but interesting comments, nevertheless:
Quote:
Not sure about the provenance of this jacket apart from the fact that it is obviously Yao. I don't profess to have much knowledge of Hainanese Yao costumes, but would be doubtful of any "Hainan" attribution, as it sounds too much like dealer talk. Unless they bought it from a Hainanese dealer at or near source I think it is likely to be guesswork on their part.
I would think Vietnam might possibly be a more likely attribution. The embroidered dragons appear similar to others I've seen on simpler Vietnamese Yao/Dao shaman robe styles, and the refurbished scarlet red cotton edging is also fairly typical of pieces from Vietnam. However the obvious figures on a horse and the dragons are unusual to see on regular Yao/Dao clothing and so this jacket could possibly be associated with some sort of ceremonial use?
I particularly like the embroidered horses. One is used to seeing dogs embroidered on Yao textiles but the horses have a real wooden-like charm. Their necks are
very elongated!
It certainly does have echoes of Vietnam. A tantalising teaser to start off 2011!
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Pamela
http://www.tribaltextiles.infoon-line tribal textiles resource