Suzhou Embroidery
01 · Historical Records
In the mid-Ming dynasty, the piled-gauze embroidery created by the Yu family was selected as tribute for its miraculous workmanship. In the early 1980s, on the basis of inheriting tradition, "double-sided fine-detail embroidery" was developed, becoming an excellent art form recognized throughout the world.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Wuxi, in Jiangsu, is one of the important birthplaces of Su embroidery; Wuxi embroidery, also called "fine-detail embroidery" (jingwei xiu). According to Liu Xiang's Garden of Persuasions (Shuo Yuan) of the Han dynasty, embroidered garments already appeared in Wuxi more than 2,500 years ago. In the Qing dynasty Wuxi fine-detail embroidery developed further, creating distinctive techniques such as "boudoir embroidery," "cut horsehair embroidery," "piled-gauze embroidery," "the color-fill sparse-lay method," and "random-stitch embroidery." The artistic character of Wuxi fine-detail embroidery is extremely distinctive: its scrolls are small in format, its modeling exquisite, and its stitch technique superb; often within a very small picture it can embroider figures, scenes, calligraphy, and patterns, presenting the marvel known as "figures an inch tall, horses the size of beans, and tiny characters like flies' footprints." Compared with ordinary double-sided embroidery, fine-detail embroidery makes higher technical demands and is more difficult, and is more exacting in its choice of materials, colors, threads, and needles. It requires that embroidery artists not only possess superb stitching skill but also have a relatively high level of artistic cultivation. When embroidering fine details, the artist must split a single silk thread into one-eightieth; sometimes a figure's head is only the size of a mung bean, and the facial features cannot be sketched in ink, so the artist must achieve a unity of hand and eye to complete the work. Over the course of its long development, Wuxi fine-detail embroidery has been closely integrated with calligraphy and painting, radiating a unique artistic charm. Fine-detail embroidery is the earliest Chinese embroidery variety to have been summarized in theory; an important theoretical work, the Embroidery Manual, appeared as early as the Qing dynasty to discuss it. It embodies the long-standing dress culture and everyday decorative culture of the Chinese nation, and is deeply treasured by literati and refined gentlemen as well as by art lovers and collectors at home and abroad. In the course of social development and change, under the impact of industrialization, foreign cultures, and over-commercialized development, Wuxi fine-detail embroidery is gradually shrinking; large numbers of skilled practitioners have been lost, transmission is difficult, and successors are lacking.
Inch-high figures, bean-sized horses
Wuxi miniature embroidery fits figures, scenes, characters and patterns into tiny panels, producing the marvel of 'inch-high figures, bean-sized horses, fly-foot characters'.
Working with a one-eightieth thread
The technique demands splitting a single silk thread into eightieths; a figure's head may be the size of a mung bean, its features beyond any brush and achievable only by hand and eye in accord.
Boudoir, horsehair and gauze-pile stitches
In the Qing the Wuxi school developed boudoir embroidery, horsehair-cut embroidery, gauze-pile work, sparse fill colouring and random stitching; the Yu clan's gauze-pile work of the mid-Ming was chosen as tribute.
The creation of miniature double-sided embroidery
In the early 1980s Wuxi embroidery produced miniature double-sided work, first made by Zhao Hongyu in 1982; her pieces are held by Chinese and German museums.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Wuxi fine-detail embroidery is distributed mainly in the urban districts of Wuxi City, Jiangsu, and the surrounding townships. Wuxi, formerly called "Liangxi," is one of the important birthplaces of Su embroidery; the local embroidery trade was largely attached to the collecting of calligraphy and painting and to boudoir needlework, artists were concentrated in the city proper and around Meicun and Shuofang, and works were mostly in small formats such as fan surfaces, albums, and small screens.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Suzhou Embroidery · Suzhou Embroidery · Suzhou Embroidery · Suzhou Embroidery.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This excellent folk craft is already in an endangered state and urgently requires practical and effective measures for its protection. Zhao Hongyu (recorded in the official archives of associated inheritors): Female; Han; born in April 1958; a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu. She began learning embroidery in 1973, and on the basis of inheriting tradition newly created "horsehair embroidery"; in 1982 she was the first to create "double-sided fine-detail embroidery." Her representative works — Polo Game, The Eight Immortals at the Drinking Feast, The Silk Road, and The Ancient Canal of Wuxi — are held respectively by the China National Arts and Crafts Museum, the Chinese National Academy of Arts, and the Heidelberg Museum in Germany. She compiled a set of "samples of stitch techniques for gauze-poking embroidery" (chuosha xiu). She is a representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Su Embroidery (Wuxi Fine-Detail Embroidery). She is a research-level senior craft artist, a master of Chinese arts and crafts, and a recipient of the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor Xinchuan Award of the Chinese National Academy of Arts (China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center). Her works have won gold and silver prizes at the national level on many occasions. She has trained several successors for Wuxi embroidery, been appointed professor at several institutions, and traveled abroad many times for cultural and artistic exchange.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Eying 01-0078
- Gu Wenxia 01-0079
- Yao Jianping 03-1238
- Zhao Hongyu 03-1239
- Jin Leilei 03-1240
- Yu Fuzhen 04-1764
- Zhang Yuying 04-1765
- Jiang Xueying 04-1766
- Yao Huifen 04-1767
- Zhang Meifang 04-1768
- Wu Xiaoping 05-2596
- Sun Yanyun
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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