Sleeve band of pink silk embroidered with cranes, flowers and Chinese characters along half the length of the textile. The characters on the band are two different written forms of the Chinese character 壽 ‘shou’, which refers to longevity. The ‘shou’ character can be presented in numerous shapes, each one with their own meaning. The round ‘shou’ suggests complete and perfect life and health, while the ‘shou’ in a longer shape emphasises more on the concept of ‘long-lasting’ life.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
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