Detail of an embroidered silk gauze ritual garment from a 4th century BC, Zhou era tomb at Mashan, Hubei province, China. The flowing, curvilinear design incorporates dragons, phoenixes, and tigers. Rows of even, round chain-stitches are used both for outline and to fill in color.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:PericlesofAthens" title="User:PericlesofAthens">PericlesofAthens</a>
From my book by Patricia Ebrey (1999)