Fukusa, blue satin silk with embroidery in coloured silk and gold-wrapped thread, Japan, 1800-1850 ‘The crane lives for a thousand years, and the turtle for ten thousand years’ is a well-known proverb in Japan. The turtle is therefore regarded as a symbol of longevity and the bearer of good fortune and is a popular motif on celebratory textiles. Here a very powerful-looking creature, the long trail of seaweed and algae on its back suggesting it has indeed lived for many years, decorates a fukusa, a type of textile used to cover a gift. The design is embroidered almost exclusively in gold-wrapped thread which look particularly dramatic against the dark blue ground. Gift cover (fukusa) of blue satin with an embroidered design of a central large tortoise swimming amid turbulent waves. The fukusa is lined with plain weave blue silk, probably a later addition.