About this piece
A cream and scarlet cloth built from concentric squares and orange stepped bands.
This baby carrier is Miao (Hmong), from Nankai township, Guizhou Province, China, and dates to the 20th century. It is applique cotton & silk. The butterfly is an image important to the Miao creation myth, in which a butterfly born from a maple tree laid twelve eggs that hatched the creatures of the world, including people. A long striped band runs across the top, over a flap of three framed panels with key patterns. Below is a large square of nested orange and red lines with four small blocks at its center. It is 87 inches wide and 27 long.
Pure geometry, and with a flair for color.
