A FINE CHINESE KESI SILK WALL HANGING, 19th century, of rectangular form, depicting a pair of golden five-claw dragons in couched gilt wrapped threads, contesting the flaming pearl and set amongst cloud scrolls, bats and eight scattered roundels each filled with rank animals, above lushui border woven with the Eight Daoist Emblems, signed verso “Chen Shun Xing”. 180 x 380cmProvenance: General Sir Edmund Barrow, Castle Bellingham, Co. Louth, from Southern Indian Regiment working in Peking around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, and thence by descent.General Barrow graduated to the position of Chief of Staff for the China Expeditionary Force in 1900 in response to the Boxer Rebellion.The 'Boxers' formed a resistance movement that opposed Western colonialism and Christianity.“The Boxer campaign of 1900, in China, upheld the international rights of foreigners in that country and maintained the sanctity of diplomatic representation. All these were matters of prime importance with regards to our political and military position in the East, and vitally affected our prestige throughout Asia” - Extract from the Campaign Diaries of General Barrow*Restored and mounted by Janie Lightfoot Textile conservation, c.2010*