.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Only four other fragments made in the same technique, woven with polychrome silk and metal threads, and featuring an identical design are known. The most famous is illustrated in Spink & Son Ltd., The Art of Textiles, London, 1989, p.15, no.5, is now in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, accession no. 1991.3, also illustrated in James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, Cleveland and New York, 1997⁄1998, cat.no.19, pp.80-82. Our kesi preserves part of a central cloud-collar frame enclosing flowers and a phoenix. In contrast to the surrounding rows of lions and palmettes in the Cleveland kesi, the phoenix and flowers on that kesi are Chinese.
The kesi technique employs a weaving method where each colour is woven from a separate bobbin creating discontinuous wefts that are joined using slits, interlocks, dovetail and other methods, rendering the surface pattern of the fabric as if it had been carved or cut by a knife, hence the term kesi or 'cut silk'. This particular weaving method was technically highly demanding and time-consuming, the silk tapestries thus produced very precious and valuable.
The golden lions depicted on this fragment, are traditionally considered symbols of royalty. They are depicted with parted manes and tilted heads, features that derive from Persian models dating to the Sasanian period (211–651 AD). James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardell note the strong Persian influence in the design of these kesi fragments suggests that they were woven by Uyghurs who were relocated further to the west and who thus transmitted Persian culture and iconography to the region, and exchanged weaving and artistic practices and patterns with Chinese artisans living in Central Asia, see James Y.C. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, Cleveland and New York, 1997⁄1998, cat.no.19, p.80.
To this day, very few early silk kesi tapestries of Tang, Song and Yuan date survive in China. The few extant examples have been recovered mostly from high-ranking Tang dynasty tombs in the far north and north west of China, in Buddhist cave contexts at Dunhuang. Even when kesi weaving flourished in the northwest of China, the technique only gained in popularity during the Song dynasty when it became a highly prized commodity.
The kesi technique employs a weaving method where each colour is woven from a separate bobbin creating discontinuous wefts that are joined using slits, interlocks, dovetail and other methods, rendering the surface pattern of the fabric as if it had been carved or cut by a knife, hence the term kesi or 'cut silk'. This particular weaving method was technically highly demanding and time-consuming, the silk tapestries thus produced very precious and valuable.
The golden lions depicted on this fragment, are traditionally considered symbols of royalty. They are depicted with parted manes and tilted heads, features that derive from Persian models dating to the Sasanian period (211–651 AD). James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardell note the strong Persian influence in the design of these kesi fragments suggests that they were woven by Uyghurs who were relocated further to the west and who thus transmitted Persian culture and iconography to the region, and exchanged weaving and artistic practices and patterns with Chinese artisans living in Central Asia, see James Y.C. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, Cleveland and New York, 1997⁄1998, cat.no.19, p.80.
To this day, very few early silk kesi tapestries of Tang, Song and Yuan date survive in China. The few extant examples have been recovered mostly from high-ranking Tang dynasty tombs in the far north and north west of China, in Buddhist cave contexts at Dunhuang. Even when kesi weaving flourished in the northwest of China, the technique only gained in popularity during the Song dynasty when it became a highly prized commodity.