Three Blessings Treasure Basket — Nantong Folk-Printed Bedspread

Object condition

Washed and ironed vintage cotton with a small hole, gentle colour fading, minor printing irregularities and natural signs of age. The hole is shown in the final detail photograph. Visible hand-joined seams belong to the original construction rather than later damage repair. An old mark, described in the supplied listing as a printer’s identifying mark, survives on the reverse. Please examine the full view and close-ups as part of the condition description.

Identification notes

The owner supplied the photographs from local inventory 126 and the description for Etsy listing 4591615250 on 9 October 2026, confirming that this textile had just been listed. It is offered as one whole piece, approximately 129 × 215 cm.

The supplied listing attributes the cloth to Nantong, Jiangsu, and estimates a mid-twentieth-century date of approximately 1945–1960. The maker, workshop and exact production year are not documented.

A rich red ground surrounds a golden-yellow central panel, framed by rows of blue flowers. The oval fruit medallion, peonies, ornamental vases and decorative vessels form a large household composition assembled from narrower cotton panels joined by hand.

The listing describes traditional hand-block printing, with different colours applied in separate stages. Slightly irregular colour placement and printed outlines remain visible. This is an attributed process; the surviving photographs alone do not establish the exact printing method.

The mark on the reverse is understood in the supplied description as an original printer’s signature or identifying mark. The close-up records the surviving writing without assigning a name to its maker.

Small transport-, building- or industrial-looking forms may offer a glimpse of a changing era alongside older household motifs. The listing proposes a connection with twentieth-century modernisation; the exact identities of these small forms remain open to interpretation.

Suitable for a decorative bedcover, wall hanging, textile artwork or folk-textile collection. The supplied care guidance recommends gentle handling, avoiding prolonged direct sunlight and repeated machine washing, and decorative display or gentle occasional use rather than heavy everyday bedding use.

A basket of abundance, a circle of peace

The Three Blessings Fruit Basket: the owner’s interpretation connects peaches with longevity, many-seeded pomegranates with descendants, and clustered grapes with prosperity, continuity and a flourishing family. The composition is read in relation to San Duo (三多), the wider tradition of wishes for blessings, longevity and many descendants. This is a contextual reading of the fruit arrangement rather than a recorded title from its printer.

A circle of auspicious vases: the Chinese words for vase, ping (瓶), and peace, ping (平), share a sound. In the supplied interpretation, the repeated vases evoke household harmony, safety and protection. Vases filled with peonies combine wishes for peace and prosperity, expressed as Ping’an Fugui (平安富贵).

Peace throughout the home: surrounding the central basket, the repeated vessels invite the reading Mantang Ping’an (满堂平安), peace and well-being filling the household across generations. Abundance at the centre and peace all around bring together hopes for family life.

Peonies, horses and treasured objects: the listing reads peonies as wishes for wealth, honour and good fortune. Small horses on some vessels suggest energy, progress and swift success, associated with Ma Dao Cheng Gong (马到成功). The decorative containers recall Bogu (博古), ornamental arrangements of treasured objects and auspicious imagery.

The bright red, golden yellow, blue, green, peach and mauve palette offers a colourful counterpart to more familiar blue-and-white indigo resist textiles. Its seams, surviving mark, printed variations and signs of use preserve the individual character of an older household cloth.