Su
embroidery is one of the four famous Chinese embroideries, and is
mainly produced in Suzhou City of Jiangsu Province in east
China. Su is the shortened form of Suzhou, a city of with moderate
climate, which has a prosperous industry of sericiculture and
hence highly-developed technics of embroidery.
Su
embroidery has a history of about 2,000 years, originating in the
Three Kingdoms Period (220-280). According to historical records,
Su embroidery became so popular during the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) that people even named lanes with names associated
with silk and its embroidery. Nearly every family raised silkworms
and embroidered. Su embroidery reached its peak during the
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and Suzhou was named the Embroidery City
at that time.
Su embroidery is known for its delicacy and
elegance. It has a wide range of themes. Its techniques include
both single faced embroidery and unique double-faced
embroidery that looks the same from either side. Double-sided
embroidery has the same pattern on both sides and uses the same
embroidering method that does not show the joins in the stitches.
Basic features of Su embroidery are simple composition, clear
theme, vivid image, and gentle color. In recent times, Su
embroidery design has absorbed some western painting techniques. The
design is usually very simple, high lighting a main theme. Its
stitching is smooth, dense, thin, neat, even, delicate and
harmonious, etc. The thin thread is divided into up to 48 strands
that are barely visible to the naked eye. In terms of categories,
Su embroidery has stage costumes, embroidery fabrics and hanging
screens, etc. Su embroidery products were sent to participate in
the Panama World Fair in 1915. Since then, the style has
become increasingly famous throughout the world. In
the long history of its development, Su Embroidery has gradually
acquired its unique art style of pretty design, harmonious
color, sprightly lines, lively needlework and fine workmanship.
The embroidery skill is featured with flatness, tidiness, harmony,
colorfulness, smoothness and evenness. "Flatness" refers to the
flat surface of the embroidery; "tidiness" refers to the neat edge
of the patterns; "thinness" refers to the fine thread which
can be split into its one tenth, one twentieth and even one
thirtieth; "thickness" refers to the close arrangement of the
lines, leaving no sign of the stitches; "harmony", means the
coordination of colors; and "colorfullness" represents the
splendid colors. There are over one thousand varieties of thread
colors, and each color is further classified into more than ten
types from lightness to darkness. Sometimes a product will use
as many as one or two hundred colors. "Smoothness" shows that the
trace of the threads moves freely and smoothly, while "evenness"
means that the lines are fairly consistent, whether loose or
dense. Su
Embroidery was listed among the first batch of national
intangible cultural heritages in 2006. Su Embroidery artists have
been making unremitting efforts to carry forward, protect
and develop Su Embroidery, inputting modern elements into it by
incorporating new techniques. With the ability to recreate
pictures of all genres and styles in the western and eastern
paintings and photography, Su Embroidery is now endowed with more
fashion and modernity. |