Skirt, cobalt blue and black. Silk damask showing chrysanthemums, bamboo, plum blossoms and peonies (representing the 4 seasons), orchids. 27 cm high bottom zone embroidered in black with satin stitch: butterflies over various flowers. The 26 and 27 cm wide front and back panels more densely embroidered, again with flowers and butterflies, adding knot stitch for anthers, and some blue thread for upper butterflies. Panels bordered on three sides with approximately 2.5 cm wide strips of black satin which also run the whole width of the hem. One wide side gore, 5 cm wide on top and 21 cm wide at the hemline, on either side. Flanked by two narrower ones, 2 cm wide each on top, between 9 and 11 cm wide at the hem. Gores separated by 0.8 cm wide black satin strips, with an additional such strip at the end of the last left gore, where the back panel meets it. Silk panels with only one embroidered orchid each underlie the front and back panels. Skirt otherwise unlined. A 10 cm high white, cotton broadcloth waistband is new. Length of skirt: 75 cm; width at waistline: 41 cm; at hemline: 87 cm.
Donor:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection place:
Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Southern China
Verbatim coll. place:
China. Purchased by Ilse Fang in Canton.
Culture or time period:
Manchu people and Qing dynasty (1644–1912 AD)
Collector:
Ilse Martin Fang
Collection date:
1933
Materials:
Cotton (textile), Satin, and Silk
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Embroidery (visual works) and Skirts (garments)
Function:
2.3 Special Ornaments, Garb, and Finery Worn to Battle by Warrior (excluding status insignia)
Production date:
Manchu Dynasty
Accession date:
December 15, 1998
Context of use:
Manchu Dynasty 1644-1911. The colors of the skirt suggest that a mature person wore it at a solemn occasion (donor’s accession notes). Fide: Ilse Fang, 8/28/2001: A good sober skirt, for a man or a woman because it is so sober. Real silk. Embroidery all well done. Could have been made anywhere in China; how to make panels and pleats was all regulated. If you talk about regional styles, you are talking about minority styles.