Cansi Weaving Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
At the 1926 Philadelphia World Exposition in the United States, the colored antique-painting brocade 'Palace Concubines' Night Excursion' won a gold medal.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Hangzhou brocade is made from Hangzhou-produced mulberry silk as raw material, taking auspicious patterns and famous paintings and calligraphy as its subjects, woven by hand on specially made jacquard brocade looms. The history of Hangzhou brocade can be traced back to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, when the Wuyue king Qian Liu established the official silk workshop 'Zhishi' (Weaving Chamber) in Hangzhou. The Ming-Qing 'Hangzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau' was one of the three great official weaving institutions, its products reserved exclusively for the imperial court. Hangzhou brocade has 58 traditional hand-brocade process steps; the warp-threading and heddle-tying construction method of the multicolored embroidered brocade, as well as the techniques of the pan-shuttle (weft) method, the huan-dao (weft-changing) method, the pao-shuttle (weft-throwing) method, and the tong-jing-hui-wei wa-hua (continuous warp, returning weft, raised-flower) method, are all distinctive features of Hangzhou brocade. Hangzhou brocade craft is divided into two categories, decorative brocade and daily-use brocade, mainly including silk-woven landscapes, figures, and table carpets, curtains, bedspreads, and seat cushions. Hangzhou brocade organically unites sketching-from-life painting and decorative art, making the brocade art even more exquisite. The products of the Hangzhou Du Jinsheng Silk Weaving Factory are the most renowned among Hangzhou brocade; on the basis of inheriting traditional silk-weaving skills, and to express a realistic style, it adopts in its craft the shadow-tone organizational technique produced by the yin-yang variation of eight-shaft satin, vividly rendering the layers, distance, and light-and-dark of subjects such as figures and landscapes. At present, the Hangzhou Du Jinsheng Silk Weaving Factory is the only one that preserves the traditional weaving craft of Hangzhou brocade, but its technical staff have all entered old age, and this precious traditional craft urgently needs protection.
Documented Process Record
Hangzhou brocade has 58 traditional hand-brocade process steps; the warp-threading and heddle-tying construction method of the multicolored embroidered brocade, as well as the techniques of the pan-shuttle (weft) method, the huan-dao (weft-changing) method, the pao-shuttle (weft-throwing) method, and the tong-jing-hui-wei wa-hua (continuous warp, returning weft, raised-flower) method, are all distinctive features of Hangzhou brocade.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The production area of Hangzhou brocade has never left Hangzhou since Qian Liu set up the Weaving Chamber; the Ming-Qing Hangzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau was one of the three great official weaving institutions, its products reserved exclusively for the court, and today only Hangzhou Du Jinsheng Industrial Co., Ltd. can still sustain the traditional weaving. Its products are divided into two categories, decorative brocade and daily-use brocade: the former weaves silk-woven landscapes and figures, the latter weaves practical items such as table carpets, curtains, bedspreads, and seat cushions; the sales channels and uses change with the times, but the looms and process steps remain as before.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Cansi Weaving Craftsmanship · Cansi Weaving Craftsmanship · Cansi Weaving Craftsmanship · Cansi Weaving Craftsmanship · Cansi Weaving Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Hangzhou brocade brings sketching-from-life painting into the brocade, converting the light-and-shadow layers that the picture originally expressed into variations of the fabric's weave; the shadow-tone organization adopted by Du Jinsheng, relying on the yin-yang pairing of eight-shaft satin, lays out the distance and light-and-dark of figures and landscapes one by one, and this is what distinguishes it from ordinary jacquard fabrics. The whole factory's brocade process totals fifty-eight steps, and the warp-threading and heddle-tying construction method together with the pan-shuttle, huan-dao, pao-shuttle, and tong-jing-hui-wei wa-hua techniques were all worked out locally. Now the technical staff have entered old age, and fewer and fewer people can fully master the fifty-eight steps, so this craft urgently needs protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhou Kangming 03-1357
- Yu Caigen 05-2795
- Shao Guanxing 05-2796
- Gu Mingqi 05-2797
- Hong Guizhen
- Zheng Xiaohua
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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