Bill- this piece is interesting for several reasons: aesthetically, the fineness of the embroidery evidences great skill; the imagery is quite rich- I detected bats, flowers, stylized birds, butterflies; and the dark color is unusual. I found a brighter example in Clothings and Ornaments of China's Miao People on p.47; in English it states that "In the using of colour, one kind of the festive dress is in the main red. ... The colour of another kind of festive dress is blue. The dress is called 'oushe' in the Miao language, which means "dark dress". Also, "There is a great variety of ornamental designs with meaningful contents. Some depict stories and legends or sing the praises of the valiant and industrious people of the Miao nationality." One thought I had was that perhaps it was overdyed to achieve the dark color, or with washing a dark dye was fugitive and made it darker than originally. Of course, if there are any white or light colored threads in evidence, this would not be the case. I can't tell much from the photos about this, but you might be able to with closer examination. Thanks for sharing this with us!
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