Incredibly Fine Antique Chinese Embroidery on Silk with Koi Lanterns in Gold Metallic Thread antique alphabet sampler to the downward pointing "V"

to the downward pointing "V" of his vest counterpointed by the upward pointing one formed by the bottom edges of her bodice

)  What we know from Royer's beautifully hand-lettered annotation at lower left is that the metal on the cocktail glass rendered is silver

framed 17 3/4" x 20 3/4"

is single layered

It feels very French to me

Incredibly Fine Antique Chinese Embroidery on Silk with Koi Lanterns in Gold Metallic Thread antique alphabet sampler to the downward pointing "V"I found this one at Brimfield and it is quite an extraordinary and beautiful piece of work a Chinese embroidery on silk, with gold metallic thread used for nearly the entirely of the two pairs of koi, making their fins and scales almost sculptural. (Just look at the detail photos of those scales, especially; phenomenal.) I am not an expert, but have looked at a fair bit of Chinese embroidery, and am pretty confident thinking this dates to earlier than