China Four Famous Embroideries

The four famous embroideries refer to Suzhou Suzhou embroidery, Hunan Xiang embroidery, Guangdong Yue embroidery and Sichuan Shu embroidery. Embroidery is a general term for all kinds of decorative patterns embroidered on fabrics with needles and threads. There are two kinds of embroidery: silk embroidery and feather embroidery.

The four famous embroideries refer to Su embroidery, Xiang embroidery, Yue embroidery and Shu embroidery in traditional embroidery techniques. Embroidery is a decorative fabric in which silk thread or other fibers and yarns are punctured on embroidery materials with certain patterns and colors with needles, and embroidery marks form patterns. This is an art of adding people's design and production to any existing fabric with needles and threads. Suzhou embroidery has a history of more than 2000 years. Suzhou embroidery has been famous for its delicacy and elegance since ancient times. Its composition is concise, its theme is prominent and its skills are exquisite. Take the thinnest thread used in Suzhou embroidery for example, ordinary people can see it clearly with the naked eye, which shows its exquisiteness.

Xiang embroidery is developed by absorbing the advantages of Su embroidery and other embroideries. Xiang embroidery blends with threads of different colors, with gradual changes, rich colors and harmonious tones. The pattern of Xiang embroidery draws lessons from the advantages of Chinese painting, and the content of embroidery is mostly landscapes, figures and animals. Especially the lions and tigers in Xiang embroidery are lifelike.

Guangdong embroidery is rich in composition, complex but not chaotic, decorative, colorful and smooth in embroidery. Guangdong embroidery has a wide range of themes, mostly early birds, dragons and phoenixes.

Shu embroidery takes soft satin and colored silk as the main raw materials, with more than 100 stitches, which gives full play to the specialty of manual embroidery and has a strong local style. The themes of Shu embroidery are mostly flowers, birds, animals, insects, fish and figures. Besides embroidered screens, there are quilts, pillowcases, cushions, tablecloths, headscarves and so on.

Suzhou embroidery

Suzhou embroidery is the general name of embroidery products centered on Suzhou, Jiangsu, including Jiangsu area. Legend has it that Zhong Yong's granddaughter "Nvhong" first made embroidered clothes. In ancient Jiangnan area, people had the custom of tattooing dragons on their bodies. Zhong Yong wanted to get rid of this bad habit. His granddaughter Nvhong invented embroidered dragons on clothes instead of tattoos. In order to commemorate the inventor of embroidery, people also call women's activities such as spinning, sewing and embroidery "needlework".

Suzhou lies to the south of the Yangtze River. The birthplace of Suzhou embroidery is Wuxian, Suzhou, which is close to Taihu Lake. The climate here is mild and rich in silk. So there is a traditional habit that women are good at embroidery. Superior geographical environment, rich brocade and colorful flower lines have created favorable conditions for the development of Suzhou embroidery. In the long historical development process, Suzhou embroidery has formed a local style with beautiful patterns, harmonious colors, bright lines, lively stitches and fine embroidery, and is known as the "Oriental Pearl".

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From the perspective of appreciation, the main artistic characteristics of Su embroidery works are: mountains and rivers can be divided into near and far interests; The pavilion has a deep body; Characters can have vivid feelings; Flowers and birds can show their elegance and intimacy. The realistic artistic effects of imitation embroidery and portrait embroidery of Suzhou embroidery are world-famous.

In terms of embroidery techniques, Suzhou embroidery is mainly based on needle groups, and the embroidery thread covers the needles without revealing the stitches. Three or four different color lines of the same kind or adjacent colors are often used to match, so that the blooming color effect can be freely embroidered. At the same time, it is also good to leave a "waterway" when expressing the image, that is, to leave a line empty during the depth change of the image, so that there can be a sense of hierarchy and the outline of the pattern is relatively neat. Therefore, when people evaluate Su embroidery, they often sum it up in eight words: "Flat, neat, fine, dense, even, smooth, harmonious and bright".

After long-term accumulation, Suzhou embroidery has developed into a complete art with complete varieties, rich pictures and diverse changes, involving decorative paintings (such as oil painting series, Chinese painting series, water town series, flower series, greeting card series, pigeon spectrum series, vase series, etc.). Practical products involve clothes, handkerchiefs, scarves, greeting cards, etc.

Yuexiu

Guangdong embroidery, Guangdong embroidery, is the general name of Guangdong embroidery and Chaozhou embroidery. With Guangzhou and Chaozhou as production centers, it has a history of 1000 years.

A long history

Extensive embroidery literature in history can be proved to be in the Tang Dynasty. Su E's Du Yang Miscellaneous Notes in the Tang Dynasty recorded that NanhaiNiangniang, 14 years old, embroidered seven volumes of Crane Li on a foot of silk in the palace. Words are like millet, and stippling is as fine as hair.

Guangdong embroidery works have a common feature, which is eye-catching from a distance and exquisite from a close look. Because the pattern is a western oil painting style, in order to embroider vividly, embroiderers increase the types of embroidery lines, reform embroidery methods, enrich the expressive force of embroidery and improve Guangdong embroidery skills. For example, peacock feathers are twisted into threads, and ponytails are twisted into threads.

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Guangdong embroidery not only uses a variety of stitches, but also pays attention to ideas in creative design, and is good at integrating auspicious and beautiful wishes into embroidery. In terms of creative methods, we adopted the depiction that originated from life and attached importance to tradition, and pursued a better ideal instead of being satisfied with reality. At the same time, he is good at learning from the advantages of painting, folk paper-cutting, etc., so that the embroidery composition is full, complicated but not chaotic, the needle steps are even, bright and flat, the texture is clear and distinct, and both objects and images are vivid, which fully embodies the local style and artistic characteristics of Guangdong embroidery.

Chaozhou embroidery

There are more than 60 kinds of embroidery and more than 40 kinds of velvet embroidery. At the same time, artists also use various techniques, such as folding embroidery, inserting embroidery, gold and silver sketch and brown silk sketch, to make Chaozhou embroidery more perfect in embroidery, nailing, pad, sticking, sewing and needle, and produce the effect of "flat, floating, sudden and vivid"

1. There are varieties of velvet embroidery, nail embroidery, golden velvet mixed embroidery and thread embroidery, each with its own characteristics.

2. Nail gold embroidery and mixed gold velvet embroidery. Nail gold embroidery, also known as gold and silver embroidery; The mixed embroidery of golden velvet is mainly made of gold and silver thread, supplemented by wool thread. There are more than 60 kinds of embroidery methods, such as crossing the bridge, stepping on the needle, fishing for petals, padding, concave needle and tired hook embroidery, among which the "double needle and square" embroidery method is not available in other embroidery varieties. Nail embroidery can produce relief artistic effect by using padding, embroidery, pasting, splicing and sewing techniques.

3. Thread embroidery. Silk plane embroidery.

Guangxiu

There are more than 30 kinds of stitches in 7 categories, including straight twist stitch, binding stitch, continuous stitch, auxiliary stitch, knitting stitch, Rao embroidery and variant stitch, as well as more than 65,438+00 kinds of stitches in Ping Xiu, such as embroidery, Rao embroidery and Guangzhou nail embroidery.

Guangzhou embroidery has varied stitches and even steps, and skillfully uses stitches to express the texture of objects; A wide range of themes, rich colors, pay attention to the harmonious use of light and shadow; Pay attention to the stitch of embroidery, pay more attention to the artistic effect of embroidery, and stress "merit" as the "art". There are many kinds of embroidery in Guangzhou, which are mainly divided into four categories according to the embroidery materials: velvet embroidery, gold and silver thread embroidery, thread embroidery and bead embroidery.

Guangzhou embroidery has varied stitches and even steps, and skillfully uses stitches to express the texture of objects; A wide range of themes, rich colors, pay attention to the harmonious use of light and shadow; Pay attention to the stitch of embroidery, pay more attention to the artistic effect of embroidery, and stress "merit" as the "art". There are many kinds of embroidery in Guangzhou, which are mainly divided into four categories according to the embroidery materials: velvet embroidery, gold and silver thread embroidery, thread embroidery and bead embroidery.

Sichuan embroidery

Shu embroidery, also known as "Sichuan embroidery", is the general name of Sichuan embroidery products centered on Chengdu. Shu embroidery has a long history. According to the records of Huayang Guozhi, a long canal in Jin Dynasty, embroidery in Shu was very famous at that time, and Shu embroidery and Shu brocade were regarded as famous products in Shu. There are relatively few pure ornamental objects in Shu embroidery, most of which are daily necessities, and most of them are materials such as flowers, birds, insects and fish, folk auspicious words and traditional decorative patterns, which are quite festive. They are embroidered on quilts, pillowcases, clothes, shoes and painted screens. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, Shu embroidery absorbed the advantages of Gu embroidery and Su embroidery on the basis of local traditional embroidery skills and became one of the important commercial embroideries. Shu embroidery stitch is neat and even, the silk road is clear, there is no ghostwriting, the edge of the pattern is too neat as a knife, and the color is bright and beautiful.

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Shu embroidery originated from people in western Sichuan. In the long-term development process, due to the influence of geographical environment, customs, culture and art, it has gradually formed a unique style of rigor, exquisiteness, brightness, smoothness, sparse composition, roundness and bright colors. Shu embroidery works are rich in materials, including flowers and trees, birds and beasts, landscape fish and insects, portraits and so on. Acupuncture methods include 12 *** 122. Commonly used needle methods include faint needle, laying needle, needle roller, cutting needle, mixed needle, yarn needle, cover needle and so on. And pay attention to "neat stitches, bright threads, tight threads, and drive home."

There are many kinds of embroidery, such as quilt cover, pillowcase, clothes, shoes, painting screen, etc., which are exquisite works of art with both ornamental and practical functions. In today's embroidery, there are both huge screens and small pocket pieces; There are both high-precision appreciation of famous products and ordinary consumer goods.

Hunan embroidery

Xiang embroidery is the general name of embroidery products centered on Changsha, Hunan. Xiang embroidery is characterized by embroidery with wool (untwisted wool). In fact, the velvet thread is treated with solution to prevent pilling. This kind of embroidery is called "fine wool embroidery" locally. Xiang embroidery is based on traditional Chinese painting, with vivid form and bold style. There used to be a reputation that "embroidered birds can smell, embroidered tigers can run and embroidered people can express their feelings". The color matching characteristics of Hunan embroidery humanistic paintings are mainly dark gray, black and white, as elegant as ink painting; The daily necessities of Xiang embroidery are brightly colored and decorative.

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Xiang embroidery is mainly made of silk, hard satin, soft satin, transparent yarn and various colors of silk and wool. Its characteristics are: rigorous composition, bright colors and vivid needling. Through rich color lines and ever-changing stitches, the embroidered figures, animals, landscapes and flowers and birds have special artistic effects. In Hunan embroidery, whether it is Ping Xiu, weaving embroidery, net embroidery, knotting embroidery, beating embroidery, velvet cutting embroidery, three-dimensional embroidery, Shuang Mianxiu embroidery, random needle embroidery, etc. They all pay attention to depicting the appearance and inner quality of objects, even a scale, a paw and a leaf. From the embroidery unearthed in 1958 Changsha Chu Tomb, it can be seen that Hunan local embroidery had developed to a certain extent as early as the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,500 years ago. 1972, 40 embroidered garments were unearthed from the Western Han Tomb in Mawangdui, Changsha, indicating that Hunan local embroidery had developed to a higher level in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2 100 years ago. Since then, in the long process of development, it has gradually developed a simple and beautiful artistic style.

With the development of commercial production of Xiang embroidery, many fine traditions of Chinese painting have been transplanted into embroidery products through the hard work of embroidery artists and the participation of some excellent painters in the reform and improvement of Xiang embroidery techniques, and various Chinese paintings, embroidery, poetry, calligraphy and epigraphy have been skillfully integrated together, thus forming Xiang embroidery based on Chinese painting, which uses more than 70 stitches and 100 colors to give full play to the expressive force of stitches. The exquisite description of the appearance characteristics of objects, embroidery is vivid and vivid, with strong texture, both form and spirit, and bold style. There used to be a reputation of "embroidered students, embroidered birds can smell, embroidered tigers can run, and embroidered people can convey the spirit".