tapestry plus embroidery, titled by Emperor
Qianlong, "Three gods of longevity", 135cm x 412cm.
collected by Qing Collections, China
Portrait of Jesus, late Qing Dynasty, 15" x 21"
embroidered by Shen Shou. More than 100 colors and new stitching method
used for this portrait.
collected by Nantong Museum, China
Qing Dynasty (1644-1921) Embroidery
Nation was peaceful and economy was booming at middle of Qing Dynasty. Qing embroidery had been developed and improved further in wide range of topics to embroider vivid, lifelike images, unique splendor, beautiful and elegant, quiet dignity and artistic effect, and even more on decorations to all kinds of daily use.
Qing embroidery inherited the features of Ming embroidery and absorbed new ingredients from Japanese embroidery and even Western art. New materials such as gilded cobber and silvery threads emerged. Local embroidery with different styles emerged too, such as famous four: Su embroidery, Xiang embroidery, Shu embroidery and Yue embroidery. Shen Shou's first "simulation embroidery" Injecting new blood into the traditional embroidery and newfeatures.
First book on embroidery techniques theory was dictated by Shen Shou (1874-1921). Shen presented eight embroidered tapestry, Eight Immortals Celebrating Birthday to empress Dowager Cixi at 1904. She presented an embroidered portrait to Empress as a national gift at 1911. Her portrait embroidery of Jesus won the first award at Panama Expo. at 1914.
