Magnolia

This embroidery piece is based on an elegant and refreshing painting featuring dense and strong ink brushwork by the well-known painter Zhu Da (1626-ca. 1705). By use of the various types of stitches such as long and short stitches (changduan zhen, 长短针), full-and-broken-line stitches (xushi zhen, 虚实针) and diagonal stitches (xie zhen, 斜针), as well as correct selection of colors, the artisan managed to reproduce the strong and dense brushwork on the embroidery, vividly illustrating the beautiful flowers and branches with vitality.