Miao Hundred Bird Textile

Two small mirrors, set in flowers, look out like a pair of eyes.

This hundred bird textile is Miao (Hmong), from Guizhou Province, China, and dates to the early 20th century. It is cotton and feather. In Miao needlework, spirals, birds and flowers are favored motifs, worked in fine silk thread on cotton ground. Nine embroidered squares make up the upper field, alternating coils of petals and plain blossoms in cream, rose and gold. Below them hang smaller panels, two shaped like blossoms with round mirror centers, and strings of beads end in white feather tufts. Brown ties rise from the corners. It is 21 inches wide and 27 long.

A lot of needle, a few feathers, and no spare corners.