A wonderful journey of Chinese embroidery
Suzhou embroidery, which began in the Three Kingdoms period, developed in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the Qing Dynasty was the heyday of Suzhou embroidery. In the Qing Dynasty, Suzhou embroidery became an industry, and commercial embroidery was extremely developed, so Suzhou was known as the “embroidery market”. The Qing Dynasty established “Suzhou embroidery, Hunan embroidery, Guangdong embroidery, and Shu embroidery” as China’s four famous embroideries, and Suzhou embroidery became the first of the four famous embroideries.
According to the records of Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,000 years ago, Wu State had used Su embroidery for clothing. The delicate nine dragons on the dragon robe of the ancient emperors were embroidered using Suzhou embroidery techniques, and Suzhou embroidery became the embroidery of the emperor.
In the Ming Dynasty, in terms of painting art, the Wumen school represented by Tang Yin (Tang Bohu) and Shen Zhou appeared, which promoted its development. The artist combines the painting works for reproduction, and the embroidered masterpieces are lifelike, and the charm of pen and ink is incisive, and it is known as “painting with a needle” and “ingenious workmanship”.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were many Suzhou embroidery needles, and the application was wide, no more than the previous dynasty, landscapes, pavilions, flowers and birds, people, omnipotent, omnipotent, all-encompassing. Coupled with the large needs of the court, luxurious and rich embroidery emerged in endlessly. Suzhou embroidery daily necessities not only have a variety of stitches, fine embroidery, and elegant color matching, but also the patterns and patterns contain the meaning of festivity, longevity and auspiciousness, which are deeply loved by the masses.
Suzhou embroidery later absorbed Shanghai’s “Gu embroidery” (also known as “painting embroidery”), combining “painting” with “embroidery”, using needles as a substitute for writing, thread as a fool, copying and embroidering ancient famous paintings, deliberately pursuing pen and ink interest, rich in a strong elegant style of Chinese painting.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, in the trend of learning from the West to the East, a style with strong light and shade and a three-dimensional sense was created. Suzhou embroidery has experienced many generations of innovation and development, each with its own characteristics, and all have a high degree of achievement.
Suzhou embroidery has a unique style with beautiful patterns, ingenious ideas, meticulous embroidery, lively stitching, and elegant colors, and strong local characteristics. Embroidery skills have the characteristics of “flat, qi, harmonious, light, smooth and even”.
“Ping” refers to the flattening of the embroidery surface; “Qi” means that the edges of the pattern are neat; “Fine” refers to the delicate use of needles and fine embroidery threads; “Dense” means that the lines are arranged compactly and do not show stitches; “And” means that the color is appropriate; “Light” means dazzling and bright color; “Shun” refers to the smooth rotation of the silk circle; “Even” means that the lines are fine and even, and the density is consistent.
Suzhou embroidery is rich in color, Suzhou embroidery artists usually use three or four different colors of the same color line or adjacent colors to match, embroider the color effect of blending freely, a fine product uses hundreds or even thousands of thread colors.
The materials and tools required for embroidery mainly include flower bandages, embroidery stands, scissors, needles, cloth, thread, etc. In the embroidery skills, the stitches of Suzhou embroidery are extremely rich, and there are as many as 43 kinds of stitches in 9 categories.
>There are mainly Qi needle, needle, set needle, needle, needle, needle, needle, flat gold, dotting, beating, knotting, net embroidery, ice needle, pick flowers, Najin, carved scale needle, hair needle, beading needle, etc., and most of the works are mainly set of needles, and the embroidery thread is not exposed stitches.
Suzhou embroidery usually uses thinner threads than Western-style embroidery, and what is more ingenious is that Suzhou embroidery artists can use the silk splitting technique, that is, splitting a silk thread into one-forty-eighth, which is known for its fine elegance and cleanliness. Fine, that is, its stitching is very thin, a silk thread can be split into one-tenth, one-twentieth, one-fortieth; Usually a quarter of the thread is already as thin as a human hair, and the thinner the thread, the more detail is revealed and the longer it takes.
In terms of types, Suzhou embroidery works can be mainly divided into three categories: zero cuts, costumes, and hanging screens, which are both decorative and practical. Suzhou embroidery can be divided into two categories: single-sided embroidery and double-sided embroidery. Suzhou embroidery stitch is divided into two categories: chaotic needle embroidery and flat embroidery.
Among them, the “double-sided embroidery” works are the most exquisite. Some masterpieces are not only double-sided embroidery that hides the knots, but also show patterns of different colors on the front and back.
Due to the complexity of the process of Suzhou embroidery, each process has different techniques, and a good embroidery often takes several years or even longer to complete, which also leads to fewer and fewer people who are willing to learn and master Suzhou embroidery techniques in contemporary fast-paced life. To unite intangible cultural heritage inheritors and promote intangible cultural heritage, it is necessary to attract more young people to participate in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.