Page 58 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Dr. Hammond, illustrated in figures 14 and rs, is an in-
teresting innovation in the needlework family and be-
longs in this discussion of embroideries in counted can-
vas stitch. To the casual eye the fabric appears to be a rich
brocade with an unusually vivid embroidered pattern of
dragons, bats, clouds, and waves, and in addition the
Twelve Imperial Symbols, done in satin and couching
stitches. As on closer examination the texture did not
seem to be exact! y that of brocade, with the owner's per_
mission we loosened the lining in order to study the
1 4 back of the fubric. Instead of the "floating weft" of bro-
cade which the thick rich exterior had led us to believe
was there, we discovered a foundation of red gauze; the
diamond pattern of the body proved to be needlework
in a surface darning stitch, and a very thin layer of cot-
ton between the gauze and the lining gave the decep-
tive look of heaviness to the fubric. Although it seems
probable that the same effect could have been obtained
more easily in a woven material, the fuct remains that it
is needlework and a most remarkable achievement.
The loop-, or chain-, stitch embroidery used on the
square shown in figure r6 is the one type found at Lou-
Ian by Stein, and it has been a favorite with the Chinese
ever since the Han dynasty. This stitch and the couched-
twist and Peking stitches are the most intricate and
beautiful of the types of embroidery that originated in
China. Our collection contains no examples of loop
stitch earlier than this eighteenth-century square.
Examples of the knot, or Peking, stitch are numerous
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