Silk & Cotton Sock with embroidery
(Unearthed at 1983), Chain-stitch
collected by Qinghai Institute of Archaeology, China
Saddle Blanket with embroidery
(Unearthed at 1983)
white, brown, blue and green colors were used
Chain-stitch, 50cm x 35cm
collected by Qinghai Institute of Archaeology, China
Tang Dynasty (618-906) Embroidery
From a historical story that Sun Quan (King of Wu) wanted someone drew a map for him. A noble woman (Mrs. Zhao, who was good at painting, poet and embroidery) embroidered the map for him and was reputed as the master of weaving, needling, silk and embroidery. Unfortunately, this embroidered map was not recovered until now.
As Buddhism boomed in China during Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasty, embroidery was widely used to show honor to Buddha statues. Buddhism portraits were popular at that time. And a court maiden in Tang Dynasty, Lu Meiniang, embroidered seven chapters of Buddhist sutra on around one square feet silk.
Embroidery was more for daily and decoration use and Chain-Stitches was the main stitch method before. But plain stitches were developed and thread colors could be changed gradually. That made embroidery designs more splendid and rich. Because of plain stitches, embroiderers could freely develop and work out their ideas artistically. Plain stitch, Seed stitch, Qiang stitch, Sou-he stitch, Couching stitch and more stitches were developed and embroidery colors could be blundered much better than before, and that lead to artistic embroidery in Song Dynasty.
