GUEST: This is a silk tapestry.

It was given to my dad by a client of his back in the early '50s, I believe.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: My mother took it to an appraisal.

She was told that it was probably circa 1900, and that it was worth around $700.

APPRAISER: How long ago did you have it appraised for $700?

GUEST: I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 years or so.

It went from my folks to me, but it's always just been stored either in their basement or in my basement.

(both chuckle) APPRAISER: Country of origin: Chinese.

And very, very overtly Chinese.

But in terms of the date, this is where it's really interesting.

If they were to identify this border, for example, 1900, not so far off.

But, the majority of this so-called tapestry or textile, 18th century.

GUEST: Oh!

APPRAISER: So this is quite, quite old.

And this would date, I would say, likely the last quarter of the 18th century, 1775.

It has this lovely horizontal shape, but it didn't begin its life this way.

This textile that you have, very symmetrical with these seams that sort of separate four panels.

This was originally a robe, a garment, mind you, that not just had these four dragons, but would have had five others, too.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER (chuckling): Five dragons are elsewhere, who knows, hopefully still in existence.

But this is the configuration that has nine dragons in all.

It would have been in the style of an imperial court robe, but it also has some Buddhist iconography on it.

So this may have been a priest's robe done in the imperial style.

In the 18th century, the emperors, specifically, were devout Buddhists.

So Buddhist iconography and imperial iconography really sort of came together.

It's a roiling sea with mountains that come out of it.

The mountains are the earth.

And then finally, this realm in which the dragons fly, this is the heavens, the celestial realm.

Furthermore, though, these creatures right here, which somewhat resemble butterflies, these are actually bats.

And bats only have the significance that they do here in Chinese.

Why?

Because the word in Chinese for bat, "fú," is also the word for prosperity.

Even the clouds, the shape of the clouds are reminiscent of a, of a particular fungus called the lingzhi fungus, which bestows immortality.

So everything in this has meaning, it's auspicious, and it is in some respects associated with the divine.

So this is an altar frontal.

So in a shrine or in a Buddhist temple... GUEST: Oh... APPRAISER: ...they would repurpose these robe panels to go into the front of an altar.

Right.

There is a strong market right now for Chinese textiles, and this is driven by Chinese interest.

I think that this particular textile would have an auction value from $4,000 to $6,000.

GUEST (laughing): Oh, my goodness.

I'm speechless.

(laughs) You know, I think about it just being stored in the pole barn.

(laughs)