A fierce dragon winds through a design of playful Chinese characters hand-painted by artist Muriel Mercer, who lived in Hawaii in the early 1950’s. Joining the dragon are a Chinese man with chopsticks eating from a rice bowl, a rickshaw carrying a passenger, a Chinese junk sailing with the wind, and a food vendor walking the street looking for a customer. The ground of this shirt is fiery red with rich complimentary colors in Muriel’s dragoon and smaller elements.
Dragons were symbols of strength and power and were often depicted in textile designs during the Golden Era of Aloha Shirts.
