Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Pair of Mittens
Not on view
This pair of mittens was one of numerous luxury items found in the compartment of Lady Dai’s coffin that symbolized her living space. Each mitten comprises three types of fabric: plain tabby for the main body, lozenge-patterned gauze as the central ornament, and hand-braided ribbon as the border decoration. Braided into the ribbon at equal intervals are two characters in seal script—qian jin (literally, “thousand gold”), an expression of wealth. An extremely labor-intensive product, this type of refined braidwork was seldom seen after the Han dynasty.
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