Miao Baby Carrier Displaying 13 Box-Forms

A fringed red-green tassel edge over a grid of star-burst quilt squares.

This baby carrier displaying 13 box-forms is Miao (Hmong), from Huaxi, Guizhou Province, China, and dates to the 20th century. It is fine silk & cotton. 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. A patterned band across the top ends in a thick fringe of orange, red and green threads. Below, a grid of square blocks holds pinwheel and starburst designs in red, teal, cream and black. It is 18 inches wide and 26.5 long.

A dozen tiny kaleidoscopes, neatly lined up.