Embroidery with floral motifs (Dunhuang, China)

Entangled strips of silk embroidered with floral design, Dunhuang, China, 9th-10th centuries. Entangled strips of silk embroidered with floral design, Dunhuang, China, 9th-10th centuries. Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. LOAN: Stein.518.

A small group of entangled and embroidered silk strips were recovered from Dunhuang in western China. They are now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc. no. LOAN: Stein.518). It was discovered by the Hungarian/British explorer Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) in the early twentieth century (1907), and derives from what is called Cave 17 of the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang.

The embroidery, which is dated to the ninth and tenth centuries, is worked in satin stitch and shows a floral design.

See also the TRC Needles entry on an embroidered Buddha head from Dunhuang.

Sources:

  • STEIN, Aurel (1921), Serindia: Detailed Report of Exploration in Central Asia and Westernmost China Carried Out and Described Under the Orders of H.M Indian Government, 5 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press, vol. II, p. 1000.
  • ZHAO FENG (ed., 2007). Textiles from Dunhuang in UK Collections, Shanghai: Donghua University Press, p. 292.

V&A online catalogue (retrieved 25th July 2016).

WV

Last modified on Thursday, 13 May 2021 17:41
More in this category: Burse Panel »