textiles: August 2008 Archives

The Palace Museum in Beijing currently has an exhibition running entitled "The Splendors of Imperial Costume". The title is a fair description of a show which is unique as far as I know.

Imperial costumes display some of the finest of Chinese decorative designs and workmanship, yet costume has received relatively little attention in China until the last decade. This exhibition is playing its part in the elevation of costume to the same level as other Imperial arts.

The exhibition focusses on the Qing dynasty (roughly, the mid 17th century onwards), the period in which the Chinese court was dominated by a dynasty of Manchurian origin. Traditional Manchurian costume, adapted to horseriding and archery, was quite different to the Han Chinese styles previously in use at the court. Yet the Manchurians quickly adapted their native styles (such as the horseshoe shaped cuff in the robe in the picture, which belonged to the Shunzhi Emperor) and made use of traditional Chinese skills in embroidery, silk tapestry and brocade weaving to produce spectacular versions of their traditional dress.

Despite its large holdings of treasures, the Palace Museum at the Forbidden City does not maintain large permanent exhibitions of its treasures, and this is the first major showing of costume. Around a hundred robes of superlative quality are on display and this show is therefore a must-see for those interested in costume and Chinese decorative art.

The show is being held in the first gateway at the south entrance of the Forbidden City (turn left and left again just after the ticket gate). Until November 8th, 2008.

Pamela Cross's website www.tribaltextiles.info is the best resource on-line that I have come across for textiles from SE Asia and SW China.

This region of Asia is a patchwork of ethnic groups, each with their own distinct and varied traditions of textile making and clothing design. A good number of books have been published on textiles from this region, but the difficulty lies in the sheer diversity of this area, and the fact that textiles from previously unknown groups are being discovered regularly.

This is where Pamela's website comes in. The site includes a forum where items can be posted and reviewed by site members, many of whom have years of collecting experience and some of whom have traveled extensively in the region. The results are an example of how the web can bring together expertise to good effect.

Speaking personally, I've been an occasional contributor to the site, which enabled me for example to identify the textile shown in this post as an example of batik work from the Rao Jia group in Guizhou province.

Pamela deserves congratulations for her work, and I'd encourage anyone with an interest in textiles from this region to take a look.

This might be the most frequently worn clothing design in human history.

The side-buttoning style is the archetypal form for most Chinese jackets, only falling out of favor in the early 20th century, when the center-buttoning style became more popular. I find this more appealing for its asymmetry. You can still see this style occasionally in Japanese workmen's jackets, but it is now uncommon in China.

It's also difficult to find old examples. Millions (billions?) were made, but they wore out and few people bothered to keep them. This example comes from Guizhou province in SW China, and I think it probably dates to the 1920s. The cloth is dyed with natural indigo.

Time for a revival?