Page 48 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
seum some years ago by Mrs. John F. Seaman were cer-
tain! y palace hangings. As a technical achievement these
panels equal and even surpass tapestries of the West,
since they are woven of fine silk thread instead of the
more easily handled heavy wool and since the design
must therefore show greater delicacy of drawing than
is necessary in Western tapestries, though on almost as
large a scale. The phoenixes and flowering shrubs on
these panels are as exquisitely drawn and woven as the
designs on any of the small pieces in the collection. Like
so many Chinese textiles, we date these panels "not later

I than Ch'ien Lung," and they are possibly earlier. One of
the two panels is illustrated in figure 7·
We,have at least half a dozen pieces of velvet which
we dare to call Ming and several of later date but, as in
the case of the Miug brocades, we prefer to marshal our
forces before publishing a discussion of them. Several of
the pieces are supremely beatJtiful from the standpoint
of both design and coloring, and they deserve an un-
hurried analysis.
Gauze has been for centuries popular for summer
overgarments in China, and with a contrasting color
beneath gives a delicate and shimmery effect. A number
of gauze robes are included in the Museum collection,
several of them dating from the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries and a group from the twentieth cen-
tury. Since, however, these robes are embroidered in un-
usual stitches, they are discussed with embroidery stitch-
es rather than with weaves.