What are the origins of embroidery

Embroidery originated very early. The embroidery of Fu Jing is found in the Shang Shu. At the time of Yu Shun, there was already embroidery. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, an official department was established to oversee its duties, and by the Han Dynasty, palace embroidery had already been established. Madame Zhao, the envoy of Wu Sunquan from the Three Kingdoms period, embroidered a military formation map of mountains and rivers. In the first year of Tang Yongzhen (805 AD), Lu Meiniang embroidered seven volumes of the Fahua Sutra on a piece of silk. She was famous for her embroidery and was recorded in the former. Since the Han Dynasty, embroidery has gradually become a unique skill among women, and famous embroiderers have also occupied a place in the history of art.
In the Primitive Society, people used tattoos and tattoos to decorate. Since the emergence of linen, woolen fabrics, silk fabrics, and clothing, people have started to embroider various patterns such as totems on clothing. According to the Book of Shangshu, as early as over 4000 years ago, the Zhangfu system stipulated that "clothes are painted while clothes are embroidered". In pre Qin literature, there are records of using vermilion sand to dye silk threads and embroidering vermilion patterns on plain white clothes, as well as the so-called "plain clothing Zhu embroidery", "Gunyi embroidery", and "Fu clothing embroidery". At that time, there were both embroidery and painting techniques, as well as the practice of first embroidering patterns and then filling in colors.
Embroidery Art
Embroidery Art
These embroidery products are very rigorous in the structure of the patterns, with a clear geometric layout, extensive use of flower and grass patterns, bird patterns, dragon patterns, and animal patterns, and romantic combination of animal and plant images. The techniques are realistic and abstract, interweaving and folding. The embroidery image is slender and clear, with a lot of white space, reflecting the important characteristics of embroidery patterns during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
At present, the earliest embroidery handed down is two embroidery pieces unearthed from Chu tombs in Changsha, Hunan during the Warring States period. Observing its needlework, it is entirely embroidered on silk and silk using the braid stitch technique (i.e. lock embroidery). The stitches are neat, the color scheme is elegant, and the lines are smooth. The pattern of dragon and phoenix dancing, fierce tiger and auspicious beast are portrayed naturally and vividly, lively and powerful, fully demonstrating the achievements of Chu embroidery art. Han Dynasty embroidery has been unearthed in Dunhuang Thousand Buddha Cave, Hebei Wulucong Tomb, northern Inner Mongolia, and the ancient tomb of Astana North in Turpan, Xinjiang. Especially in 1972, a large number of diverse and complete embroidery products were unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, which is more helpful for understanding the Han Dynasty embroidery style. From these embroidery products, it can be seen that the themes of Han embroidery patterns are mostly wavy cloud patterns, soaring phoenix birds, galloping divine beasts, as well as common ribbon patterns and geometric patterns in Han mirror decorations. The newly adopted base material for embroidery is a popular fabric at that time, such as silk brocade woven into auspicious characters such as "longevity and great benefits for descendants" and "Changle Guangming". The main technique is lock embroidery, which fills the pattern tightly, with neat stitching and extremely smooth lines.
Embroidered Buddha statue donor
Embroidered Buddha statue donor
Silk fabrics from the Eastern Jin to Northern Dynasties were unearthed in Dunhuang, Gansu, as well as in Hotan, Bachu, Turpan, and other places in Xinjiang. Fragmented embroidery, regardless of the pattern or blank space, was fully embroidered with fine lock embroidery, becoming a characteristic of embroidery throughout the land. The Tang Dynasty embroidery, which has been passed down and unearthed, is closely related to the religious art of the Tang Dynasty. Among them, many Tang Dynasty embroidered Buddha statues, such as the embroidered tent of the Lingjiu Mountain Buddha Sutra discovered in the Thousand Buddha Cave in Dunhuang in the British Museum and the Buddha Sutra Sutra in the Nara National Museum in Japan, are directly related to the flourishing belief in Buddha. At this time, the embroidery technique still followed the Han Dynasty lock embroidery, but the needle technique had begun to shift to using flat embroidery as the main method, and various different needle techniques and colored threads were used. The materials used for embroidery are not limited to silk and plain silk. The patterns used in embroidery are closely related to painting. In addition to Buddha statues and figures, landscape flowers and birds also gradually flourished in Tang Dynasty painting. Therefore, Buddha figures, mountains and rivers, pavilions, flowers and birds have also become embroidery patterns, with lively composition and bright colors. The use of fine flat embroidery techniques, combined with the use of various colored threads and needle techniques, replaces the depiction of painting with pigments to form a special art form, which is also a unique style of Tang embroidery. As for the use of gold and silver threads to coil the outline of the pattern and enhance the three-dimensional sense of the actual object, it can be seen as an innovation in Tang Dynasty embroidery.
Before the Tang Dynasty, embroidery was mostly used for practical and decorative purposes, and the embroidery content was related to daily needs and customs. The embroidery works of the Song Dynasty were not only practical items, but also dedicated to embroidery. Since the Jin and Tang dynasties, literati and officials have been fond of calligraphy and skilled in painting. Calligraphy and painting were the highest artistic expression at that time, and even more so in silk embroidery during the Song Dynasty. The style of calligraphy and painting directly influenced the style of embroidery. There should be an inseparable relationship between embroidery and painting from various dynasties until the Qing Dynasty.
The development of embroidery in the Song Dynasty was due to the encouragement and promotion of the court at that time. In order to achieve the vivid artistic conception of calligraphy and painting, there needs to be a plan before embroidery, and the situation needs to be considered during embroidery, which tends to be exquisite. The composition must be simplified, and the choice of patterns with white space is very important, which is completely different from the embroidery of the Tang Dynasty, whether there were patterns or not, Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty recorded in his "Secret Record of Junqing Pavilion": "Embroidery by the Song Dynasty is characterized by fine needle threads, using velvet to stop one or two threads, and using needles as thin as hair to create exquisite and dazzling colors. The mountains and rivers are divided into distant and close interests, the pavilions are waiting for the profound body, the characters have a vivid feeling of looking out, and the flowers and birds are extremely graceful and graceful. The best ones are even better than paintings, with three interesting and ready, and ten fingers pointing to the spring breeze, covering this place." This description roughly illustrates the characteristics of embroidery in the Song Dynasty.
During the Yuan Dynasty, there were very few embroidery works that have been passed down, and the Taiwan Imperial Palace Museum only had one work. From the perspective of the work, it still inherits the legacy of the Song Dynasty. Yuan people use slightly thicker velvet and less dense needles, which is not as exquisite as Song embroidery. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty believed in Lamaism, and embroidery not only served as a general decoration for clothing, but also had a strong religious color. It was used to make Buddha statues, scriptures, banners, and monk hats, represented by the Yuan Dynasty's "Embroidered Dense Vajra Statue" preserved in the Potala Palace in Tibet, with a strong decorative style. The embroidery unearthed from the tomb of Li Yu'an during the Yuan Dynasty in Shandong province not only includes various needle techniques, but also the practice of sticking silk. It is embroidered with plum blossoms on a skirt, and the petals are made by adding silk fabric and embellishing them, creating a three-dimensional effect.