Pi Ling Summer Collar of a Noblewoman

This type of detachable collar was worn on top of the formal chao pao court robe. Men s collars typically had five dragons while the women s feature only dragons.The dragons are in profile on either side of a mountain with the background filled with clouds, waves and lucky emblems. All within a border of clouds and bats. The outer border is made of kinran which is paper based brocading technique, originally Chinese but later widely used in Japan. The embroidery is done on gauze with polychrome silk in counted stitch and couched metallic thread.