A GOLD AND BLUE EMBROIDERED SILK 'DRAGON' BED COVER QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

originally conceived as an Imperial banner, the central section of the bed cover with two central vertical panels, each enclosing sinuous full-frontal five-clawed dragons, picked out in yellow and gold silk threads, amidst cloud scrolls, on a rich blue silk-ground, framed by fourteen narrow vertical panels, each similarly woven with striding five-clawed dragons, the wide and narrow panels repeated to form around the three sides to form the bed skirt; together with a squared panel, similarly composed of matching wide and narrow dragon panels, lined on blue damask