Woman’s Robe

The three Han dynasty (221BCE~226CE) tombs excavated at Mawangdui in central China in the 1972 yielded a large number luxury silks that survived in good condition. Many of these textiles were ornamented with sinuous, abstract animal, plant, and cloud patterns rendered in chain stitch. The chain stitch enabled embroiderers to create such sweeping, curvilinear patterns. Han embroiderers were quite proficient with the chain stitch, and created designs with 10 to 12 stitches per centimeter. This robe was meticulously reconstructed by a team of Chinese embroiderers supervised by Wang Yarong and Wang Xu, and authenticated by the Jingzhou Museum.