Dragon

Dragons appear on Chinese textiles over a long span, and by the Ming and Qing their use had been drawn into a strict system of dress regulation. Qing rules distinguish the five-clawed long from the four-clawed mang, and fix the number, placement and treatment permitted to each rank.

In surviving objects, however, the Qing dragon is anything but static. The proportion of head to body, the density and direction of the mane, the spread of the claws, the drawing of eye and snout, and the way the body is spaced against the surrounding clouds all change over time.

These features cannot be read in isolation. The same motif is rendered differently in kesi, zhuanghua, embroidery and couched gold, so comparison is only meaningful within a single technique and a single object type.

Scales in couched gold have their own method: laid in staggered rows, each worked as a fan advancing inward from its widest edge, with the outer edge of the next scale pressing down the turn of the one before so that the rim stands slightly proud. The belly is outlined in a darker gold to give relief.