This blue and green silk altar cloth with gold and coloured thread embroidery depicts the story of The Three Kingdoms. It has a green silk border embroidered with flowers and the Chinese characters 'shou' (longevity) in gold and black threads. Embroidered panels such this piece were used as dressing for table-fronts during weddings, funerals and on feast days.The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is considered one of the four great, Chinese classic, historical novels written in the 14th century by Luo Guanzhong. It is based on the history of the three kingdoms, Wei, Shu and Wu that struggled to reunite the empire at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty 25-220 CE.
