In China, besides Suzhou embroidery, Xiang embroidery, Yue embroidery and Shu embroidery, there are also Beijing embroidery, Lu embroidery, Bian embroidery, Ou embroidery, Hangzhou embroidery, Han embroidery, Min embroidery and other famous local embroidery, as well as ethnic minorities in China, such as * * * Er, Yi, Dai, Buyi, Kazak, Yao, Miao and Tujia.
Four famous embroideries were formed in the middle of19th century. Besides its own artistic characteristics, another important reason is the commercialization of embroidery.
Due to the different market demand and embroidery origin, embroidery handicrafts, as a commodity, began to form their own local characteristics. Among them, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong and Hunan have a wide range of products, so they are called "four famous embroideries".
Suzhou embroidery, the "four famous products" of Chinese embroidery, takes Suzhou as the center and includes the general name of Jiangsu embroidery. It was developed on the basis of Gu embroidery.
Having said that, I have to talk about Gu embroidery first, because it has a great influence on modern embroidery in eastern China.
Gu embroidery originally refers to the embroidery of Gu Jia in Shanghai in Ming Dynasty. Gu Jia's Gu was a famous scholar in the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing (AD 1559).
His grandson Gu Shouqian is good at painting and studied under Dong Qichang.
Gu Shouqian's wife Han Ximeng can draw flowers and is good at embroidery. She is the representative of many famous family members. Even Dong Qichang said in surprise, "It's so far!" Commodity economy developed in Ming dynasty. Because Gu Jia's embroidery is famous at home and abroad, in the Qing Dynasty, many embroidery villages in the south of the Yangtze River simply hung the name of "Gu Embroidery", and the generalized "Gu Embroidery" also came from it.
It is after widely absorbing the characteristics and advantages of Gu embroidery that Su embroidery gradually bred a more exotic flower from the workshop.
From the perspective of appreciation, the main artistic features of Su embroidery works are as follows; 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.
Imitation embroidery and * * * embroidery of Suzhou embroidery are famous for their realistic artistic effects.
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 objects. Gu Xiu's famous work "Jingwei Qiu Ming" means to leave an empty line in the depth change of an object to make it clear and tidy.
Therefore, when people evaluate Su embroidery, they often sum it up in eight words: "Flat, neat, fine, dense, even, smooth, harmonious and bright".
Guangdong embroidery is the general name of Guangdong embroidery products.
According to legend, it was originally founded in the minority-Li nationality. Most of the former embroidery workers were men from Guangzhou and Chaozhou, which is rare in the world.
There are mainly embroidery such as clothes, hanging screens, wallets, screen cores, round fans and fan covers.
In art, Guangdong embroidery has dense and lively composition, rich and dazzling colors, simple stitches, thick and loose embroidery lines, uneven stitches and slightly overlapping stitches.
Phoenix, peony, pine cranes, apes, deer, chickens and geese are often the themes.
Another famous Cantonese embroidery is made of brocade or gold embroidery, that is, the famous gold embroidery, especially the gold velvet embroidery lined with high floating cushions, which is resplendent and magnificent, and is mostly used for clothing, stage furnishings and temple furnishings embroidery, and is suitable for rendering a warm and festive atmosphere.
Shu embroidery, also known as "Sichuan embroidery", refers to Sichuan embroidery represented by 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, mostly daily necessities, mostly 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 techniques, and became one of the important commercial embroideries in China.
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.
Xiang embroidery is the general name of embroidery products centered on Changsha, Hunan.
Businessmen in Changsha set up "Gu Embroidery Village" to satisfy a group of nouveau riche who made a fortune by suppressing Taiping Army, and soon overwhelmed Gu Embroidery in the name of Xiang Embroidery.
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 also dominated by Chinese paintings, with vivid forms and bold styles. 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.
During the period from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the Chinese nation suffered great disasters and people's lives were difficult. From the invasion of foreign powers to the separatist regime of warlords, there are internal troubles and foreign invasion, and wars continue.
In this case, embroidery, like other national industry and commerce, has suffered an unprecedented impact and almost died out.
Until 1949, when new China was founded, embroidery, like other industries, got rapid recovery and development.
In order to maintain and develop the local embroidery skills, many places have set up corresponding research institutions and allocated special funds to support and promote the collation and research of embroidery skills.
In particular, many embroidery skills lost to the people have been systematically developed and utilized, which greatly enriched the content of embroidery, making embroidery more exquisite and more categories.
Especially on the basis of "Shuang Mianxiu", we developed "Double-sided Completely Different Embroidery", that is, embroidery with completely different pictures, stitches and colors can be embroidered on both sides of the same fabric, which makes the world exclaim again and again: "It is simply a world stunt".