Buyi Cotton Baby Carrier

A striped woven band over a curved leather-brown skirt that ends in a pale square.

This baby carrier is Buyi, from near Anshun, Guizhou Province, China, and dates to the 20th century. It is woven cotton & silk. Young Miao girls generally began learning embroidery around age eight or nine, and a baby carrier for a future child was among the first and most important items they made. The cloth is wide and horizontal, with a central panel of small red and dark diamonds between narrow stripes in pink, blue and cream. Below it, a rust-brown curved panel narrows to a small off-white pouch. It is 102 inches wide and 27 long.

Quietly stripy, with a tail of mystery.