Weaving China's Past: The Amy S. Clague Collection of Chinese Textiles

Claudia Brown (Author), Robert D. Mowry (Contributor), Martha Winslow Grimm (Contributor), Janet Baker (Contributor), An-yi Pan (Contributor)

ISBN 10: 0910407398 / ISBN 13: 9780910407397

Edité par Phoenix Art Museum, 2001

A propos de cet article

New oversize softcover in matte printed wraps. Text is clean and free of marks or underlining. (7.1 x 0.4 x 12.25 inches) Includes photos, art prints, and a bibliography. 160 pp. Fast shipping in a secure book box mailer with tracking. Amy Clague's remarkable collection, incorporating superb examples from Song through Qing, allows art historians to re-assess the textile arts of China's recent centuries, 1100-1900. Textiles were often admired on a par with painting or calligraphy and could take inspiration directly from those fine arts. Their use in tribute and trade as well as in Buddhist ritual contexts is dramatically revealed in recent studies. The present study of works in the Clague collection explores these topics further and examines the relationship of these textiles to the greater fabric of Chinese art. Amy Clague's collecting was stimulated by recent exhibitions of Chinese textiles in Hong Kong and New York. She lent several works to Heaven's Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, organized by the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1995, the first major international exhibition to bring together textiles and costumes from collections throughout the world. The gathering of scholars and collectors at the symposium for that exhibition fueled her interests. She was inspired to continue collecting a broad range of styles and techniques within Chinese textiles and to seek works of varying function rather than concentrating on aspects of costume, an area where many significant studies have already emerged. Two years later The Metropolitan Museum in New York and The Cleveland Museum of Art held a joint showing of Central Asian and Chinese textiles in the exhibition called When Silk Was Gold, and this gave further inspiration to Amy Clague's collecting. She resolved to follow the example of James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, who set a high standard of scholarship in their groundbreaking study of Chinese and Central Asian textiles. She thus has allowed her textiles to be subjected to technical analysis and radiocarbon dating as well as full examination by a textiles conservator. The results of these studies appear in the catalog entries below. This is the catalogue for an exhibition in Phoenix in 2000, El Paso through 2001, and the China Institute of America in New York from January to June 2003. Arizona native Clague has assembled Chinese silk textiles ranging from the Song (960-1279) and Jin (1115-1234) to the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. A chronology, five essays, and a bibliography accompany the color reproductions of pieces and details.

N° de réf. du vendeur 203250

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Weaving China's Past: The Amy S. Clague Collection of Chinese Textiles
• Éditeur: Phoenix Art Museum
• Date de parution: 2001
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0910407398
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780910407397
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: New
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Art: Textiles
  • Asia: China

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Western admiration of China's silk textiles dates back at least to the days of the Roman empire. The establishment of the Chinese republic caused a large number of imperial costumes, no longer needed for court ritual, to enter collectors' hands. Textiles curators have studied these in depth, yet American museums are just begining to explore the broader topic of Chinese textiles, and to present splendid examples of the art along with porcelains, bronzes, enamels, and other decorative art traditions of China. This work examines an extraordinary private collection of Chinese textiles of diverse styles, functions, and techniques. The collection is remarkable for its chronological expanse, with works ranging in date from the Song (960-1279) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties through the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The book examines the relationship of these textiles to the greater fabric of Chinese art. Pieces in the collection have been subjected to microscopic examination and radiocarbon dating as well as full examination by a textiles conservator, and the results of these studies are included. The yarn type, thread count, weave, and supplementary materials are identified. Several of the brocades feature gold fibers, and these have been analyzed to identify specific techniques. A remarkable discovery was the use of peacock feathers twisted with silk fibers in a kesi woven during the Qing dynasty. The study of Chinese silk textiles, like the study of Chinese ceramics and metalwork, offers a glimpse into a complex tradition in which both organized industry and individual creativity played a role. Traditional China viewed spinning, weaving, and embroidery as divinely inspired arts to be practiced dutifully in the home. Concurrently, however, luxury textiles were commissioned for religious, state, and private use. Silk was essential in China's foreign policy, used along with gifts of tea and silver to pacify borderlands. Together with porcelain, silk became a major commodity for export to Europe. Elaborate techniques were developed for producing complex designs in both brocade and embroidery. During China's later dynasties, textile arts were pursued as fine arts, appreciated on equal footing with painting and calligraphy.