Collection

Wedding Banner Woven Pheonix and Dragon Design

Chinese Qing dynasty

186cm(W) x 246cm(L)

Banners were draped on walls close to the ceiling to keep the room warm and control or block light, while it can help protect privacy when hung near the bed or window. In Korea, it was the period of the Three Kingdoms when people began to use banners. According to the housing regulations mentioned in 『The Chronicles of the Three States』, apart from the royal family, no one was not allowed to use hangings wrapped with felt(jun) using silk or folding screens decorated with embroidery. In other words, only the royal family could use hangings, which were commonly used in noble households and the royal palace.
The way the royal palace or houses of the nobility were designed during the period of the Three Kingdoms was perfect to hang banners. The use of beds during the Goguryeo era continued in the Unified Silla and Goryeo period, up till the Joseon period. However, the lifestyle of using chairs and beds was inherited by the upper class. It was during the Joseon period, when floor heating systems spread enough that traditional Korean houses had both heated floors and wooden floor halls. This is when the upper class began to adapt to the culture of floor-sitting.
Before the existence of floor heating systems, banners were valuable decorative pieces used for retaining heat. During the Joseon period, banners were not only considered as one of the marriage necessities of royal and noble households, but also a craft work. Apart from indoor insulation or privacy protection, banners were also used for interior decoration through which the wishes of that time were displayed with specific patterns and colors.
In the beginning of the exhibition, the wedding banner woven with pheonix and dragon design and symbolized man and women(紅色結婚房帳) from the Chinese Qing Dynasty is on display. this banner was hung in a newly wed’s room. Used in wedding costumes, red is considered as an auspicious color that means happiness in East Asia. In this banner, the Chinese characters “囍“ are couched in gold threads in the center of a red background, while dragon and phoenix patterns, which symbolize the union between man and woman, are embroidered in counted stitches. Surrounding these patterns are bats, which stand for the ‘five fortunes(五福).’ Each bat has in their mouth a coin for fortune, a peach for longevity, a scepter (如意) for granting wishes, an endless knot from the eight treasures of buddhism(八寶), and a swastika symbol(卍). There are cloud patterns embroidered in the spaces in between. Bats also symbolize fortune, since the pronunciation of the Chinese word for bat (蝠) is the same with that for fortune (福).’ A scepter (如意), which is known to make everything go well, is a tool used by a Buddhist monk during sutra chanting or Buddhist sermons. Meanwhile, poor scholars with hidden virtues would shake the scepter they received from an ascetic to make anything they wish appear. Thus, scepters also symbolize that everything comes true.
This beautiful and exquisite banner that once decorated a newly wed’s room, is full with embroidered patterns that symbolize wishes, such as luck, fortune, and longevity. It is a type of decoration that elevates the level of aesthetic of a living space, and at the same time visually symbolizes the fortune and social status of the family.

Ottoman Turkish Robe

Ottoman Turkish 19th century

148.0cm(w) × 106.0cm(l)

When the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine empire in the 14th and 15th centuries, they inherited a sericulture and silkweaving industry that had been producing luxury silks for over a thousand years. The historian Procopius wrote that at the behest of Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565)

monks smuggled silkworm eggs from India to Constantinople and thus fostered the creation of a native sericulture Industry, yet the Chinese text Sanguozhi, compiled in 429, records that silkworms were already being raised in Byzantine Syria. At the time of the ottoman conquest, they city of Bursa housed one of the world＇s largest silk markets, and was famed for the production of sophisticated woven silks as well as embroidery with gold thread. Under Ottoman patronage, textile artist developed a distinctive style that combined elements of Turkic ornament with influences from Persia, Italy, China, and other sources.

Thangka Embroidered with Figures of The Five Spirits of Destiny(Gobiin Lha)

Mogol 19th century.

66.0cm(w) x 8.0cm(l)

＇Thangka＇, which in the Tibetan language literally means ""that which can be rolled up"", refers to sacred paintings and embroideries displayed in the temples, monasteries and domestic shrines of Tibet, Mongolia, and Nepal. This embroidered Thangka-depicting the Gobiin Lha, the five spirits believed to be born with children and to protect them throughout their lives.

Daoist ""Robe of Descent"" Embroidered with Gold-wrapped and Polychrome Silk Threads

Chinese Qing dynasty.

153.5cm(w) × 127.0cm(l)

The ""robes of descent"" (降衣, jiangyi) worn by Daoist priests when conducting certain rituals and ceremonies. The back of the robe would have been viewed most prominently by worshippers as the priest faced the altar to conduct rites; accordingly, this portion of the garment typically features the most lavish ornament. On the back of the robe, a central medallion embroidered in couched gold threads depicts the palace of the Jade Emperor (玉皇, 玉帝), the ruler of the Daoist heavens.

Fan with Double-sided Embroidery

Chinese Qing dynasty.

26.8.5cm(d)

The head of this rounded fan, featuring various kinds of birds and flowers with a rock and pine tree, is carefully stitched so that the same composition appears on both sides. This kind of painstaking workmanship is associated with large commercial embroidery workshops in Chinese urban centers during the late Qing.

Panel depicting a maiden on a floating lotus leaf.

Chinese, 17th century

34.3cm(w) x 66.0cm(l)

Embroidered screen panel depicting a maiden on a floating lotus leaf. Chinese, 17th century. This screen panel depicts a young woman wearing a robe that simulates the appearance and texture of actual brocade through the skilful application of decorative stitches (see Diagram). The girl’s coiffure was rendered with delicate human hair threads, an innovation of Song palace embroiderers in their quest for utmost realism. The white lotus flower blossoming on the girl’s right is embellished with tiny seed pearls. 

Young Woman’s theatrical robe.

Chinese, 19th century.

108.7cm(w) x 191.7cm(l)

This theatrical robe represents an exaggerated version of a woman’s wedding costume, including an elaborated could collar, red jacket, and pleated skirt. Chinese opera utilized little background scenery and few stage sets, so audience attention focused on the colorful costuming of the actors

Unity (Ten-Panel Folding Screen)

by Young Yang Chung

Korean 1960s

429.2cm(w) x 198.5cm(l)

Gracefully swimming fish, symbolizing wealth, abundance, and union, have remained a popular motif in East Asian painting and decorative art for millennia. Young Yang Chung received the commission for this piece in the 1960s from the South Korean government, which at the time sought to express its desire for the unification of Korean peoples through the visual arts. Chung chose to depict a school of fish to express the idea of togetherness. The weeds the fish are swimming through are stitched in the outline technique leaving the tail as part of the pattern. Each element of the feathery water weed is composed of a series of outline stitches, or a variation of the outline stitch, in which wispy “tails” are created for a realistic effect.

Unification (Ten-Panel Folding Screen)

by Young Yang Chung

Korean 1960s

489.0cm(w) x 215.3cm(l)

Rose of Sharon, the Korean national flower, begins to blossom in hot summer and keeps its beauty for long. The background is a Korean map showing the divide between the South and North illustrated with flowers in different colours. The pink flowers in the right represent North Korea, and the white flowers South Korea. A big tree trunk symbolises the artist’s wish for one unified Korea. The petals have been executed with a traditional stitch and with three types of thread twisted in different thicknesses. Thinner threads have been used for the central part of the flowers and thicker threads for the edges. To realistically depict the petals, the artist has used padding and then embroidered onto it. A special technique (textured threads), which embroiders in twist, was chosen to express the tough texture of the tree trunk. According to the artist, it takes two or three hours to make a one inch square.

Festival Badge with Dragon and Chrysanthemums

Chinese Ming dynasty

39.0cm(w) x 40.5cm(l)

Featuring a shimmering dragon in couched gold thread and chrysanthemum blossoms in satin stitch, all embroidered over a diamond patterned, counted stitch background, this badge would have been attached to robes during the celebration of the Chrysanthemum Festival, held during the ninth lunar month.

Rank Badge of Third or Fourth Rank Military Official with Tiger Design

Chinese Qing dynasty

27.2cm(w) x 26.8cm(l)

During the 18th century, the combined use of brush painting along with weaving and/or embroidery was popular for the decoration of Chinese rank badges. This badge is woven in kesi on a warp of two-ply blue silk; the background was woven with wefts of gold paper-wrapped threads, and fine internal details on many of the woven motifs such as the Daoist symbols and peonies as well as the stripes on the tiger are painted in black ink with a brush.

Rank Badge of Fifth Rank Civil Official with Silver Pheasant Design

Chinese Qing dynasty

24.0cm(w) x 23.0cm(l)

During the 18th century, Chinese embroiderers and weavers began to include various auspicious symbols and landscape compositions in rank badge design.

Rank Badge of First Rank Civil Official with Crane Design

Chinese Qing dynasty

27.8cm(w) x 28.0cm(l)

This badge features an expertly rendered background of seamless gold couching, an embroidery technique particularly fashionable during the reign of the Yongzheng emperor (r. 1722-1735)

Woman＇s Chuba Fashioned from a Chinese Chaogua (court vest)

17th century

Chinese fabric tailored in Tibet

182.0cm(w) x 143.0cm(l)

This robe was fashioned in Tibet from a sleeveless vest worn by Ming and Qing court ladies. The style of the dragons and the celestial landscape indicate production during the transitional period between the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Twelve-symbol Semiformal Robe Worn during a Ritual for Rain

Chinese Qing dynasty

206cm(w) x 138cm(l)

At ancestral rites, the emperor and officials wore different colors based on the five elements according to the subject of the ancestral rite. They wore red while praying to the sun, sky blue for the moon, and yellow for the land. The emperor would wear a blue dragon robe during rituals for rain.

Panel Depicting Scholar’s Objects

Chinese Qing dynasty 17th century

34.2cm(w) x 65,7cm(l)

This exquisitely embroidered silk panel, a pair with that shown in Figure 11, shows typical accouterment of a refined scholar, including a dragon-patterned blue-and-white porcelain vase holding a flowering peony, a brocade-covered box, a censor on a stand, an incense container, and two wrapped scrolls. Using decorative stitches, the embroiderer created extremely realistic surface textures and patterning details for the various objects depicted.