Page 26 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
the East and the West and rna y be either vertical or hor-
izontal, the warp threads taking their direction accord-
ingly. The weft threads are rolled on bobbins, one for
each color in the pattern. These weft threads are carried
only so far as needed for the various details of the pat-
tern.)f the points of juncture of the pattern with the
bordering weft colors are~ly small(flo attempt is
made to connect them, and thus tiny slits are left at the
outlines of the pattern. If the pcints.o£ juncture arc larg-
er, the weaver of Chinese tapestries usually interlocks
the t.wo adjoining_ wefts by looping them through each
other at the point of contact. This joining is frequently
done in other ways by tapestry weavers of the West -
by-the-use of a needle and by still another manipulation
of the weft threads- but the result is never so compact
as in tl1e method mentioned above and would be much
more noticeable in- the- fine si-lk k' o- srii than it 1s in
woolen tapestry. As a rule, in Chinese tapestry, as in
Western, the ends of the weft are left hanging on the
reverse side, but we have seen several pieces, one a robe,
in which each end of the weft was wrapped about the
warp where it terminated and then trimmed short, so
that without a magnifying glass the reverse side of the
k' o ssu could not be distinguished. This painstaking
method, which is rare in both Chinese and Western
tapestries, is especially remarkable in k'o ssu weaving.
The Sung and Yuan dynasties are not definitely ac-
credited with producing any new weaves, but a great
deal remains to be discovered about these periods. The
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