Velvet chair cover with stylized auspicious symbols

雲龍海獸雙喜雜寶圖紋椅帔  織金漳絨    清代 

This long velvet panel is designed as a chair or cushion cover. It is decorated with auspicious motifs that, combined, celebrate a divine world of happiness, longevity, and nobility for whomever sits on it. The motifs are a lion playing with a brocade ball; an infinity knot surrounded by stylized bats and clouds; a dragon rising from the mythical Eastern Ocean; and a single bat carrying the character xi, for double happiness. A person would sit on the infinity knot, lean back against the powerful dragon full of cosmic energy, and contemplate the images of the dancing lion and the bat elsewhere on the seat.

The use of two colors in the warp-in this case bright  peach and gold-to create a pattern is the most common method of weaving multicolor  satin velvets.