Exquisite Jiangnan-style embroidery draws inspiration from Chinese painting
Silk thread used for embroidery
Onlookers might mistake the needlework displayed at the ongoing Jiangnan Boudoir Embroidery Art Exhibition, with bright colors and exquisite textures, for a Chinese painting.
In actuality, the Jiangnan Boudoir Embroidery is a traditional form of silk embroidery that combines literati painting, calligraphy and needlework.
It has been practiced in Jiading District and the surrounding areas since the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) eras, and is usually created by women in their private sitting rooms.
In March, the Jiangnan Boudoir Embroidery was included in the 12th batch of Jiading’s representative intangible cultural heritages.
The exhibition not only features works of the inheritors of the Jiangnan Boudoir Embroidery, artistic creations from both the “Huiniangzi” team and Donghua University students, but also 31 pieces (sets) of exhibits of silk embroidery literature, antiquities from the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, boudoir embroidery utensils, and household items collected by the Huixiu Cultural Space.
Embroidery works created by children
Huang Ruogu, aged 5, created the “Beautiful Flowers” embroidery.
“This work is based on a masterpiece of Huang Binhong (1865-1955), a modern Chinese painter and art theorist, which I embroidered with silk thread,” the girl said. “Every time I finished the petals, I felt like the flower was blooming.”
Seven-year-old Huang Ruoxi, meanwhile, spent a month working on a needlework called “Village near the Mountain and River.” The artwork draws inspiration from a painting of Luo Pin (1733-99), one of the “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou” in the Qing Dynasty.
The grey bricks and white walls are vividly mirrored at the creator’s fingertips.
“When I first saw it, I assumed it was a painting. But after taking a closer look, I found it was embroidered stitch by stitch, which is amazing!” exclaimed a visitor surnamed Xu.
Fan Dongmei (left) and Huang Yi compare the needlepoint artwork with the brushstrokes in a book painting.
One of the exhibition’s highlights is an embroidery piece produced by Fan Dongmei, an inheritor of the Jiangnan Boudoir Embroidery. It is based on the painting of Qian Daxin (1728-1804), a scholar in Jiading during the Qing Dynasty. The Jiading Museum owns the original work, and Fan’s piece is embroidered to the original scale.
“In order to recreate the work by embroidery, she must first interpret the vibe in the original painting and then use different stitches and colors to render an impressive visual effect,” said Huang Yi, Fan’s husband who is also the director of the project on Jiangnan Boudoir Embroidery preservation.
Although the original painting is in ink, Fan used approximately 30 different hued threads for the entire piece, including more than a dozen for the calligraphic characters alone.
Exhibition Info:
Date: Through August 31, 8:30am-8pm
Venue: Jiading District Cultural Center
Address: 33 Taxiu Rd
