Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Chinese: Textiles (117)

Toward the late Qing and early Republic periods, footbinding in urban centers became less common. But women were still concerned with fashionable footwear. This pair of beaded strips are actually shoes parts which would have been sewn with other matching beaded fabric parts to form a pair of beaded shoes

This Qing Dynasty scroll is a kossu woven silk tapestry (kesi is the Japanese term) meticuliously depicts the famous Chinese painting scroll by Ding Yunpeng called The White Horse Carrying Sutras. The original painting was done in 1625 and illustrates the story of the 2 monks who traveled through Western China with a white horse carrying the Buddhas Scriptures. The original hangs in the National Palace Museum (Forbiddon City in TaiPei).

The kossu textile is in excellant condition...

This antique Chinese civil rank badge has the golden goose representing 4th rank. Embroidered using brick stitch this badge is has a fret background,key border and is decorated with bats, turtles and flowers. Curiously the sun is missing but the badge is old and still has the remnants of a few threads which were used to sew it to the front of the robe. The badge has traditional blue silk lining and is in excellent condition...

Clearly made by an adoring grandmother, this antique Dong Minority hat is covered with a variety of ornate embroidery stitches including both wrapped thread and couching techniques. The hat is topped with silver half beads representing bubbles and a large top knot.. It is a bid dirty which would be expected in a childs hat of this age and use.

Manchu women never practiced foot-binding. However, during the Qing dynasty, they did wear pedestal aka platform shoes, hoping to give the appearance of smaller feet. These shoes would give the woman a more careful walk which was perceived as dainty and more sensual. In addition, the tips of the shoes would appear to peak out from under the robes, giving the foot more dainty appearance. These shoes are embroidered on both sides with a floral motif...

This Chinese pinafore style garment would have been worn by a small girl child of the Dong ethnic minority in Shui Kou. Fabric is handwoven from cotton fiber, hand stitched with intricate decorative applique work and hand woven snowflake pattern ribbon accents the border. No rips, no tears, and no holes...but this piece is old and has been worn and is a bit "dirty".... and still has its original ties. It is 14 inches wide and 21 inches long...great ethnographic textile for framing.

This lovely small woman's purse was made from silk satin fabric and embroidered with silk thread useing the satin stitch. The purse still has the original silk ribbon attached to the bottom, and belt loop attached at the top.

This small silk jacket was made and worn by the child of a wealthy traditional Han Chinese family. The dark blue silk fabric is embroidered on the front and back with a floral arrangement. There are additional decorative elements of tassels and border trim. The jacket spans 15 inches across the chest.

The jacket is in very good condition with only a slightly visible stain on the front embroidery, which would be expected of a childs jacket of this age.

During the Qing dynasty, an essential part of the Chinese woman's costume was the doodoo, which was worn covering the chest. This one is fine silk with lovely embroidery and is lined with traditional blue silk. It measures 16 inches across and 17 inches high. excellant condition

This embroidery panel was originally the front flip of a money belt. The background fabric is a low cut velvet the embroidery stitches are mostly chain stitches. Charming scene of flowers and fish with traditional chinese key border Almost 12 inches across at the widest and 7.5 inches high.

This is a wonderful Qing Dynasty child's hat from Shui minority group in the Rong Jiang area. It is traditional looking Chinese cap style made with silk fabric and silk split thread embroidery, and top knot. This hat is over 100 years old, and has wonderfully soft patina, and shows some wear. Truely charming

This traditional Chinese woman's headband was made and worn during the Qing Dynasty toward the end of the 19th century. It has an applique embroidered butterfly on each end and a large full kingfisher feathered medallion in the center. The lotus shaped kingfisher is 4 inches x 2 inches. The entire headband in 16 inches in length.

This traditional summer weight Manchu style (side closing)vest is from late Qing Dynasty. The lush deep blue silk fabric has a jacquard weave with an all over fret design. The lining is of deep maroon silk..the vest is entirely hand sewn, and fits a small to medium size woman.

This old Chinese silk hat would have been owned and worn by a gentleman of some financial means. The gold fretted trim was expensive and used on both mens and woman's clothing of the during late Qing dynasty. There is some blue trim fabric lost as shown in the pictures. The hat is lined with red cotton fabric and has writing in 2 of the 6 sections.

This textile wallet would have been used to keep sewing supplies Each page is made from heavy hand paper, hand painted decoration and folded in such a way that numerous pockets and flaps are available for storage of small bits of fabric, snipes of thread, needles, etc. the outside of the wallet is covered with homespun fabric which now attests to the age and use of the piece. This wallet is from the Dong ethnic minority of China, and would have been passed down from one generation to another...

This Chinese ethnic child's hat has wrapped thread embroidery technique which was used by the Miao the Miao minority. The set of silver ornaments across the from are Buddha images. the The ornament in the back is a stylized butterfly of Miao Legend...the dangle of bells at the back is to scare off evil spirits who would attack the child from the rear..This hat is old and in surprisingly good condition

A bride of the Yi Chinese Ethnic Minority in Yunnan Province, would have worn the "cock" hat for her wedding day. The hat is made using layers of cotton fabric with a stiffiner between the layers to maintain the shape. Using colorful cotton thread, hat was extravagantly hand embroidered. A few traditional silver ornaments including the bubble, flower and butterfly were added.

Now, it is the very lucky Yi girl who can use her great grandmother's bridal hat for her own wedding...

This rare antique Chinese Child's hat has it all From the Yi Chinese Ethnic Minority... Each surface is decorated with intricate hand embroidery and several silver ornaments