Xiapei was a vest of a formal robe in Qing dynasty in China. A wife of a bureaucrat in Qing dynasty showed her status by putting a rank badge on her chest which showed her husband’s status. John Riis copied the shape of harpy and recreated it into tapestry. The tapestry, which uses texture and gloss of thread, reinterpreted the shape of harpy by weaving it like a basket. Quilt artist Kim Mi-Sik quilted her work using old Korean traditional cloth pieces on the base of the original form of harpy. It expressed old memories of Korean in the form of colour patchwork by connecting piece by piece from Korean traditional cloth, which is not produced today, based on the shape of the Chinese cloth.
left: Misik Kim, , 2014
middle: <woman's court vest(xiapei)>, China Qing dynasty in the 19th century
right: Jon Eric Riis, <princes>
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