China - Ching Dynasty Year of the Horse Flag used in the Peking Opera.
This handmade, silk Chinese triangular Year of the Horse pennant is a flag from the esteemed "Peking Opera" acquired in 1980 by Ben & Louise Zaricor in a Beijing antique shop identified as Qing Dynasty flags and dated to the late 19th century.
Flags like this were often a part of the troupes' highly stylized costumes rather than simple stage props; they could have been used to identify a character to a specific time during a performance.
Peking Opera refers to the art form which is a highly stylized blending of exaggerated pantomime style acting, music, singing, mime, dance, gymnastics, and mock combat, to tell a story or depict different characters and their sentiments of happiness or anger; joy or sadness; surprise or fear.
This style of opera" has is nascence in the late 18th century and evolved into the form recognizable today by the mid-19th century, at the twilight of the Qing Dynasty. One of the most famous performance troupes of this art form could be found in Peking, now Beijing.
The Chinese Zodiac is a 12-year "annual calendar" that relates each year to an animal. Each representative creature's positive and negative attributes are then used to interpret action, prophesize and identify character traits.
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