King Silk Art, 100% Handmade Suzhou Silk Embroidery, Unframed Art 12x12 inch - Tiger 34190

King Silk Art makes silk embroidery wall art, 100% hand-stitched by Master Artists in Suzhou, China. Our artwork, Susho, is completely natural, created with tiny needles and pure silk thread. Susho is a 2500 year old family tradition, with a unique and fascinating history.

Leopards don't have the size of strength of larger predators, but their speed and ability to outsmart prey and foes, more than compensates. Leopards hibernate in the winter and reappear in spring, while that associates them with the natural cycles of the environment, there is an element of mystery and stealth attached.

In Chinese legends, the leopard spirit is feminine, a powerful water element. Leopards awaken the deepest, most buried aspects of our human nature. In Feng Shui, leopards are symbolic of speed, ferocity and cunning. In Imperial China, leopards were embroidered on the robes of generals to inspire efficient viciousness. In Chinese culture, a "Brightly Colored Leopard" is a beautiful but dangerous woman.

Centuries ago, when Susho began to evolve from home furnishing and clothing, the Emperor and his court wanted wall art to decorate their palaces. The aristocrats favored natural scenes, wanting to capture the detail and texture of flora and fauna. Susho artists learned to please the taste of the elites, by making natural scenes as realistic as possible.

Symbolically, the images were meant to permanently capture the essences and benefits of the subjects. Even an Emperor cannot keep a leopard alive forever, but capturing its soul in silk will make it a captive, eternally.