Guangdong embroidery: the four famous embroidery

Cantonese embroidery is composed of Guangzhou embroidery (Guang embroidery) distributed in Guangzhou, Foshan, Nanhai, Panyu and other places, and Chaozhou embroidery (Chao embroidery) distributed in Chaozhou, Shantou and other places. It originated in the Tang Dynasty and has a history of more than one thousand years.

Guangdong embroidery pays attention to combining the shape and quality of materials, and its craftsmanship is unique. It has a variety of needlework and even stitches, and can skillfully use needlework and silk to express the texture of objects. Guangdong embroidery has a wide range of themes and rich colors. It pays attention to the harmonious use of light and shadow. At the same time, it can also achieve "craftsmanship" for "art", and attaches great importance to the artistic effect of embroidery.

Among them, Guangdong embroidery is very delicate, with full composition, complex but not messy, strong decorativeness, bright colors and magnificent appearance. They are able to skillfully use wool thread embroidery, and creatively use peacock feathers and horsetails as threads and binding threads, and use gold and silver threads for embroidery. As early as the early Qing Dynasty, Guangdong embroidery integrated the artistic style of Western paintings and was a type of embroidery with strong practical commerciality. The product categories include quilt covers, pillowcases, bed lintels, shawls, headscarves, stage curtains, embroidered clothes, shoes and hats, round fans, purses, Cantonese opera costumes, etc., as well as mirror screens, hanging curtains, and banners.

Guangdong embroidery "Morning Sun"

Guangdong Embroidery "Charm of Lingnan"

Chaozhou embroidery has a full and balanced composition, various needlework, clear texture, gold and silver thread inlay, rich colors, and strong decorativeness. It has a strong local color, especially the embroidery method with relief effect, which is unique from other embroidery methods. The gold-nailed embroidery with golden, rough and majestic relief effect is particularly eye-catching. The themes include figures, dragons and phoenixes, antiques, animals, flowers, etc. The full and symmetrical composition and bright colors produce an artistic effect of "flat, floating, protruding and lively".

Chaozhou embroidery "Dragon and Phoenix Tripod"

Chaozhou embroidery "Nine Dragon Screen"

Details of Chaozhou embroidery "Nine Dragon Screen"

Note: In the 1870s, the Nine Dragon Screen by Lin Zhicheng, a master of Chaozhou embroidery, was presented to Syria as a state gift.

Chaozhou embroidery "New Year's Day Offerings"

Embroidery with added padding creates a three-dimensional effect like relief

Cantonese embroidery is divided into four categories according to the embroidery technique: velvet embroidery, thread embroidery, gold-nail embroidery, and gold-velvet mixed embroidery.

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Velvet Embroidery "Flowers in Bloom"

Velvet embroidery: On various silks, satins, and satins, flat pictures are embroidered with velvet using flat embroidery needles; the subjects are mostly birds and antiques, and are used as pictures, hanging screens, etc.

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Embroidery "Southern Red Cotton"

Thread embroidery: flat embroidery made purely of silk thread.

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Gold-studded Embroidery: "Phoenix and Luan"

Gold-nail embroidery, also known as gold and silver embroidery, has complex needlework, including more than 60 needlework methods such as crossing bridges, stepping needles, picking up petals, padding, concave needles, and accumulative hook embroidery. Among them, the "two-needle scale" needlework method is not found in other embroidery types. Gold-nail embroidery uses padding, embroidery, pasting, splicing, and stitching techniques to produce a relief-like artistic effect.

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Gold and velvet mixed embroidery "Harmony of Luan and Phoenix"

Gold and velvet mixed embroidery uses gold and silver threads as the main threads, and velvet threads as the auxiliary threads.

Gold-nail embroidery and velvet embroidery "Fruits from Lingnan"

Double-sided Chaozhou embroidery "Golden Dragon Fish"

Guangdong embroidery and Chaozhou embroidery are both branches of Guangdong embroidery. They have common characteristics while also having their own individuality. They interpret the artistic atmosphere of Lingnan, are an important part of Lingnan culture, and enrich the embroidery culture of Lingnan.

Editor-in-charge: Liu Xiaoqiao

Source: Textile Science Expo