East Asia

East Asia

Tne Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, holds a coloured woodblock print by Utamaro II (Koikawa Shunchō) and is dated to 1808. It measures 38 x 26 cm. It is one in a series called Instructive Patterns for Women's Handicrafts, and refers to the craft of Chinese embroidery.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin holds a drawing of an embroidered, Japanese bast fibre tunic. The drawing was collected by Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866). It shows the type of tunic, worn by the Ainu, discussed elsewhere in TRC Needles. The German physician Von Siebold worked for the Dutch government at Deshima between 1823 and 1829, and settled in Leiden, The Netherlands, upon his return from Asia.

A nineteenth century hanging scroll now in the British Museum (acc. no. 1941,0311,0.1) in London depicts two Han Chinese girls working on pieces of embroidery. One of the girls is using a rectangular stand frame and is embroidering a design of flowers. She is wearing a more formal jacket with embroidered collar and front opening band, with a pink skirt. This type of skirt was often embroidered as well.