Taking traditional folk embroidery art as the research object, this study collected a large number of historical resources and theoretical material on
This study collected 1856 pieces of embroidery works in
According to legend,
In the 1960s and 1970s,
Based on function,
Embroidery in the southern
Due to the influence of local customs,
This study analyses the common animal, plant and geometric patterns in
The animal patterns in
Animal patterns of Jinnan embroidery
Animal | Implication | Diagram |
---|---|---|
Tiger# | Bless the children to be safe,, brave, and promising, as well as to grow healthily | |
Dragon | Peace and harvest | |
Regarded as the God of Rain or Protection | ||
Symbol of love and a happy life together with a phoenix | ||
Phoenix | Truth, goodness and beauty, benevolent government | |
Symbol of beautiful life and love together with a dragon | ||
Phoenix with spreading wings means women’s desire for a better life | ||
Fish | Like fish in water | |
Rich food and clothing, happy life | ||
Abundant wealth | ||
Butterfly | A firm and beautiful love and a perfect marriage together with a flower | |
Crane | Spirit and merit | |
Longevity and peace | ||
Lion | Authority and supremacy | |
Growth and prosperity |
The plant patterns in
Plant patterns of Jinnan embroidery
Plant | Implication | Diagram |
---|---|---|
Peony | Prosperity and happiness | |
Luck and wealth | ||
Lotus | Noble moral character and sentiment | |
Homonym ‘Lian’ implies prosperity of future generations | ||
Gourd | Precious and lucky | |
Homonym ‘fulu’ means ‘fortune’, to express the hope for a high official position and wealth by taking its good omen of wealth and luck. |
The geometric patterns in Jinnan embroidery include clouds, persimmons and others. In the book History of Chinese Patterns, Tian Zibing wrote that geometric patterns are a universal primitive decoration shared by all countries in the world and are common in craft culture [8]. Geometric patterns have been popular since ancient times not only because of their simple and rich decorative characteristics but also their close relation to the primitive thinking of human beings. The basic form of the persimmon pedicel pattern is a tetragonal flower with pointed petals, which is slightly rhombic or square. Persimmons reportedly have seven virtues: long life, shady trees, without a bird’s nest, without insects, enjoyable frosty leaves, rich and beautiful fruit, and large fallen leaves for writing [9]. Persimmons have enjoyed the implication of auspiciousness since ancient times. In the folk embroidery of the
In some cases, characters are directly embroidered in works as art patterns. Full of direct feelings by literal expression, these embroidery patterns can be found everywhere in daily life, such as a pair of insoles embroidered with the character 囍 (pronounced as ‘xi’ and represents happiness) in wedding customs to express blessing for the new couple. Many characters also represent an auspicious meaning, shown in Figure 2: 福 (pronounced as ‘fu’ and represents blessing), 禄 (pronounced as ‘lu’ and represents promotion), and 夀 (pronounced as ‘shou’ and represents longevity). In addition to these common characters and patterns, craftsmen also connect characters and patterns to create new fancy patterns wisely and skilfully.
The most common theme of embroidery in
The colour selection in
Through the colour extraction of 100 samples of
In terms of the use of colour, contrast colours are always used in
In conclusion, the characteristics of
In embroidery, aside from the basic embroidery cloth and thread, many auxiliary tools, such as needle, thimble, awl and scissors, are used [11,12]. These tools help accomplish different embroidery patterns, as shown in Table 3.
Auxiliary tools of Jinnan embroidery
Name | Introduction | Diagram |
---|---|---|
Textile ground1 | Common fabrics in |
|
Needle2 | As a tool to lead the line, the needle can be divided into different sizes catering to different needs to embroider different patterns. | |
Thimble3 | The small pinhole on the circular object can block the needle from twisting back and forth. It is usually worn on the middle finger, helping the needle pass quickly to fix and prevent wearing. | |
Embroidery thread4 | Cotton thread is commonly used in Jinnan folk embroidery. Given its low cost, it often appears in the embroidery of daily necessities. | |
Awl5 | An awl is used to drill holes in the insole to facilitate the shuttle of the needle and thread. | |
Paste | Paste can be made by stirring water and powder with tools. It is used to attach Spring Festival couplets or window patterns. | |
Scissors6 | The tip of the embroidery scissors should be tilted to one side and tilted flat without erecting while cutting thread, instead of being tilted to the background cloth, which might scratch the embroidery. |
The popular embroidery styles in the
Techniques of Jinnan embroidery
Needling | Diagram | Characteristics | Scope of application |
---|---|---|---|
Flat embroidery | The embroidery thread starts from one side of the outline and falls to the other side. The stitch should be flat, even, balanced and smooth. The trace should be parallel, even and straight, with its surface and edge flat and even, neither too heavy nor too exposed. | Mainly used in daily necessities and clothing accessories, such as necklines, cuffs, hats, shoes.quilt covers, pillows, wedding tents, longevity tents and table girths. | |
Seed embroidery | With the knot in small lines, it is placed on the embroidered surface to form a line or a surface by a dense row of particles. It can increase the level of embroidery, showing a similar effect of relief works, with a sense of smoothness, delicacy and order. | Due to the small size and flexible combination, various patterns can be embroidered in this way, usually in flower stamens, the eyes of birds, animals, insects and fish, and patterns on a purse | |
Round stitch embroidery | This firm and even embroidery method is composed of a ring lock with embroidered thread. The scales between embroidered threads are complex, and the teeth are staggered. When embroidered to the end of the edge, the needle still needs to be flat. | Always used in pillowcases, bibs, insoles and others | |
Cross stitch | Most of the embroidered patterns are traditional with some abstract deformation patterns of ancient totems. Before embroidering, warp and weft should be drawn first on the cloth surface, and then cross-shaped stitches are used to form exaggerated and deformed geometric patterns on the surface, which is beautiful and practical. | Always appearing in insoles | |
Na embroidery | Being extremely firm and dense, this embroidery method is relatively simple, with no excessive decorative elements in the pattern design, and embroidered fully without exposing the background. | More practical, more used in rural embroidery | |
Drawing embroidery | According to the pattern design, the warp or weft of the pattern part should be removed while being connected to form a hollow decorative pattern. Limited by the yarn texture, the pattern shape is symmetrical longitudinally and bilaterally, mainly represented by eight knots, with diamonds, two diagonally overlapping squares and other geometric patterns. | Commonly used in tablecloths, curtains, handkerchiefs, armchairs and other daily necessities |
According to different regions, various embroidery techniques were formed in
For reproduction worship,
As a special spiritual production, the art production of folk embroidery is the most natural expression and most real existence because one is always happy because of happy things and sad because of unhappy things [16]. In social life, the happiest thing brings about the custom of festivity, and the saddest thing brings about the custom of funeral, which is also called ‘red and white celebrations’.
These clothes are generally embroidered with ‘shou’, longevity patterns. Moreover, in a variety of sacrificial activities, such as the offering to God of Wealth on the first day or the 15th day of the lunar month, hoping that the God of Wealth can bring about wealth, and offering food to the God of Kitchen on the 25th day of the first lunar month. The tablecloth and curtain used for rituals are all elaborately designed and embroidered because they are believed to carry infinite good wishes.
Chapter
禄 (pronounced as ‘lu’) refers to a high official status and rich salary. In traditional Chinese culture, the pursuit of fame and wealth is very competitive. The ideological system of valuing officials is also far-reaching [18]. Some cases in
夀 (pronounced as ‘shou’) refers to health and longevity, which imply the attention paid by man to its life. Longevity, as a specific physiological and cultural phenomenon, is a concept of time in which limited life can be extended. In daily life, many rituals and patterns are designed to pray for longevity [19]. In
囍 (pronounced as ‘xi’) refers to happiness, always seen in double with a contrasting colour and pattern, which is used at weddings [20]. In ancient times, when people prepared the wedding of their daughters, a set of 囍 (pronounced as ‘xi’) articles with exquisite embroidery was a must. They hoped that their daughter would be valued by her husband and implied a happy married life.
財 (pronounced as ‘cai’) refers to wealth. In the imagination of Shanxi locals, the pursuit and desire for wealth were important. It reflects not only the desire for wealth and other psychological states but also the ideal and goal of acquiring wealth [12,18]. In
As a stream of folk art,
Animal patterns are the main object of embroidery in southern Shanxi, with a variety of themes penetrating each other. The patterns enjoy complex but not chaotic themes, and distinctive but orderly forms, the cultural implication of which is rich and profound. The colour scheme in The embroidery in southern Shanxi is simple and changeable. After an in-depth analysis of their theme and value, the embroidery patterns appear to convey totem worship, reproduction worship and auspicious worship, reflecting the long-term aesthetic concepts and living customs in southern Shanxi.
In the later development of