Indigo Phoenix Garden — Blue Resist-Printed Cotton
A large complete phoenix-and-peony composition whose blue resist print turns household cloth into a field of marital and domestic blessing.
- Object ID
- TA-CN-0008
- Origin
- China
- Period
- c. 1960s–1970s
- Dating confidence
- probable
- Material
- Cotton
- Dimensions
- Approx. 210 × 82 cm
- Technique
- Blue resist printing / Lan Yin Hua Bu (蓝印花布)
- Pattern
- Phoenix · Peony · Scrolling vines · Dotted folk borders
- Colours
- Indigo-style blue · Natural white
- Washed
- No
Object condition
Large complete vintage textile with two small holes and natural signs of age, storage and hand processing. The old blue surface is soft and matte rather than factory-uniform.
Identification notes
The pattern is resist printed rather than woven into the cloth. Pale motifs were protected before blue dyeing, producing the characteristic blue-and-white surface of 蓝印花布.
Phoenix birds, peony-style flowers, curling vines and dotted borders form a layered auspicious composition associated with harmony, prosperity and family blessing.
The original listing identifies the piece broadly as Chinese; a more precise regional attribution remains open in the Atlas.
The cloth is documented as a whole piece rather than a small cutting, which preserves the overall decorative composition.
A complete phoenix-and-peony blessing field
The scale of the surviving composition makes it possible to read the relationship between central birds, flowers, vines and border motifs rather than seeing them only as isolated fragments.
Its imagery demonstrates how decorative household cloth could operate simultaneously as useful material, visual art and a carrier of wishes for a flourishing home.
