Page 60 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
broidery in the collection may be seen in the animal mo-
tives on the theatrical warrior robes illustrated in figures
34 to 38. This is the sort of applique with which we are
most familiar. A more intricate form is to be seen on the
mirror case illustrated in figure 19. Here the leaves and
the fungus growth at the lower part of the design are
cut out of satin in the desired patterns, the edges of
which are outlined with about a dozen threads laid flat
and close together and pasted to the satin, giving the
impression of braid, the whole then pasted down to the
background of red silk. The stems and sprays have not
even the satin foundation- they are simply the proper
number of threads to give the desired width, laid down
in scrolls and spirals and pasted to the red ground. In
the lotus flowers and seed pods, the rows of threads held
·together in this braid formation are looped and piled
row on row in petal shapes, yellow against green against
shaded rose tints in the full-blown flowers, and solid
greens or yellows in the buds and seed pods, and the
whole pattern pasted down, with not a single stitch to
strengthen it. An incredible technique to us but almost
a commonplace performance for the adept and unhur-
ried Chinese of the eighteenth century.

COURT ROBES AND THEIR SYMBOLS

In the court, in society, each man stood forth clad in the
impregnable armor which was his right and due in the
structure of the society in which he lived- artificial, as
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