Who Buys Asian Silk Thread Art Beautiful Spring Time From 19 Th Century
Chinese paintings, ceramics, piece of furniture and works of art are all avidly nerveless, only textiles are withal a little known or appreciated area. There is at present more demand for rank badges and beautiful robes, but there are even so areas which are neglected. Sleevebands can be extremely beautiful and attractive, often agreeable and very interesting pieces of social history. Framed, they practice not take upwardly much infinite and several on a wall can look stunning and unusual. |
Department of robe showing how the majority of the band's front is plain, whilst the back would be covered with embroidery. Manchu and Han woman's jackets and robes had big wide sleeves with a band approximately seven in broad by 40 in long acting as a cuff. A section of about four-6 in beyond and 20 in long is embroidered on this cuff. The embroidery is worked to one half of the cuff the rest being left plain. This after department is sewn to the front end of the jacket or robe, the embroidered office to the dorsum. Women tended to fold their arms in front at waist level with their hands through the sleeves, the embroidery showing downwardly the front. |
When the Manchus conquered China in 1644 (Qing dynasty) their costume was a hybrid mix of their own nomadic traditions and those of the sedentary silk weaving Han people. During the previous Ming dynasty the Han women had embroidered the sleeve ends of their robes and this idea was adopted when the the Manchus came to ability. It is not known how this tradition came about but a fairly logical explanation is that when eating or perhaps embroidering or painting , the sleeves would exist folded back and pushed up the arm, which is what we would do today. In time the folded dorsum portion of sleeve was then embellished. In winter and autumn women would wear satin or silk damask robes either lined with fur or padded with cotton, or in spring simply lined with a silk lining. In summer silk gauze was worn which was perforated silk and therefore cool. Sleeve bands come in a diversity of silks and techniques. Silk damask is the nearly mutual groundwork textile, silk gauze, plainly satin or silk next most pop. Cut velvet and woven silk kesi are less mutual, being reserved for special occasions. Quite oft the bands practise not tone with the main garment. Favorites were unpicked and reused on the next robe. |
Item of kesi band depicting ii boys, belatedly 19th c. |
Kesi 'cut silk' is the most prized of Chinese textiles, at present and during past centuries. It took much longer to weave silk than to embroider, this type of weaving beingness reversible. Bands worked in this technique are fairly rare and expensive. When the weft (horizontal) threads were woven, each colour was woven in simply where it was required to exist visible, with a different bobbin existence used for each colour rather than a continuous thread. Each end of silk was so deftly sewn dorsum into that particular colour, to brand the work reversible. When a piece of kesi is held up to the lite slits can be seen, formed where there is a colour intermission. A ring from my collection has small children at lessons beautifully depicted and in clear vivid shades, their features inked. This was common exercise during the 19th century when it was quicker to ink in details than to weave. |
Detail of a wave border using kesi weave |
There tin can likewise be a great variety of sew techniques on bands, some using only one blazon, others with a variety. A band dating from the mid-19th c. with fifty boys at play the theme ' Ane Hundred Boys' (its companion band would have depicted the other l) shows long and brusque, stem and net sew, couching and Peking knots. Couching is where a thread, in this instance gilded spun round a silk core, is defenseless down on the surface of the fabric by another stitch. Peking knots besides known as Forbidden run up were never actually forbidden by law. It probably got this name because it was first worked in the Forbidden Urban center. The fineness of these stitches varies considerably and it is only occasionally that a actually minute stitch is seen. In some stitches two colours have been twisted together to keen issue. There are many themes but i of the nigh popular was collywobbles (longevity) sipping the nectar from peonies (spring). Together these two stand for a lover tasting the joys of honey. Other subjects might be people in gardens or on terraces surrounded by pavilions, birds and insects, horses, animals, fruits, and a great variety of flowers. Colour was highly pregnant in the Chinese court with specific colours being worn for formalism or festivals. Red was a happiness colour and worn at weddings, white for funerals and mourning. Yellowish was reserved exclusively for the Emperor and Empress. Different colours were worn at the four annual sacrifices. |
Particular of Pekinese stitch, often dislocated with Peking knot, last quarter 19th c. |
Many bands combine the stitch and groundwork cloth to clever effect, such equally with a pair of silk gauze bands which appear to accept egrets wading amidst lily pads and lotus flowers in water. From a distance the birds appear to be painted, the counted stitches or minute tent stitches are so fine. The silk gauze basis has been given the result of h2o silk and the birds do appear to be in water. Another interesting technique is a band applied with pieces of silk which has been hand painted and pasted with rice paste to sparse paper. They are then cut into the required shape and applied overlapping to form petals or leaves. The stems and outlines have silver or aureate wrapped silk couching defenseless downwardly with red silk for emphasis. The band dates from c. l900 and has used aniline dyes. These were invented in 1856 by an Englishman chosen W H Perkins but were non used in China until the 1870's. Many of the examples that are found in the Great britain and in America today were those given as gifts or plundered during the latter role of the 19th century in People's republic of china by Europeans and Americans. Many bands have been removed from robes and some take been reduced in length, so that just the embroidery and a niggling background cloth remains. |
Detail of a tadpole using Peking knot stitch, last quarter 19th c. |
Beautiful bands tin can be bought quite reasonably. Price depends on whether they are a pair, the quality of the embroidery, condition and unusualness of subject field matter, variety of stitches and full general attractiveness of the piece. Prices start from near £60 for a single skilful quality band. |
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Source: http://www.victoriana.com/antiques/textiles/sleeve.html
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