Imperial Silk Banner 5-Clawed Celestial Dragons // Qing Dynasty, China Ca. '1850-1910' CE

This Qing Dynasty Silk Banner is embroidered with celestial dragons, clouds and ocean motifs, with an upper border of imperial five-clawed dragons.

The five-clawed dragon is the emperor’s sacred symbol of imperial power, representing its dignity. Even though dragons are mythological animals, they are symbols of the natural world, they are the rulers of the seas and the skies. The rain divinity is associated with heavenly beneficence and fecundity. Dragons symbolize adaptability as they are capable of transformations, they also represent power and are the highest symbol of good luck in the animal kingdom.

In Chinese art, the dragon evolved from a limbless snake-like creature in the pre Qin dynasty (pre 221 BC) to the composite creature we know today, a combination of many animals, including the horns of a stag, ears of a bull, eyes of a rabbit, claws of a tiger and the scales of a fish, all on a long serpent’s body.