When I was in Chengdu this winter adopting my baby Panda , Bao Shi, one of the places I had on my list as a MUST SEE was the Shu Brocade studios in the city of Chengdu.  I spent over 3 hours there and came away with just as many of the large 5 foot long brocade scrolls as you see below.  Each one of a kind and a unique piece of art and a slice of an almost extinct Chinese artform.


The embroidery masters must apprentice for a minimum of 10 years to be able to reach the status of “master”,   It takes 2 masters to control the warp and weft on each loom.  Some of the looms were were told are well over 100 years old!


The photos simply cannot do this piece justice.  There is so much texture and to think this is 100% silk!!!  It just boggles the mind.


The winner of this stunning piece of art can either hang the scroll as is which is so elegant, or as we saw at the brocade studios, they would actually cut the image with some border from the scroll and frame them for sale.  The scrolls sold best to travelers through Chengdu for their ease of portablility.....but really I personally loved to see them professionally framed.


I hope you enjoy the images.  If you have any questions I will be at the auction for Tai’s big 3rd birthday bash to fill you in on any more details.  This is a collector quality piece of art that will be with your family for generations to come and increase in value with each passing year.

 
 
 
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Handwoven artisan brocade purchased at the Shu Brocade Studios

in Chengdu China, February, 2008..donated to the Pandas Unlimited auction

by GRAFFITI Jewelry

ADDITIONAL HISTORY ON SHU EMBROIDERY


There are about one thousand wild pandas and most of them are in Chengdu. But there are even less people who can weave Shu Brocade. Shu Brocade is a Chinese cultural relic due to its traditional techniques. Sichuan is the birthplace of the silk industry and is called the Ancient Silk Country.


More than 4000 years ago, the Shushan people who lived in the valley of the upper Mijiang River started to raise silkworm. During the Warring States Period Shu Brocade was transported abroad; via the South Silk Road which starts from Chengdu and passes Yunnan, into Burma, India, Pakistan and to Central Asia.


Chengdu was called Brocade City at that time and Shu Brocade was popular throughout the country. Though the techniques of Shu Brocade have developed, the scale of its manufacture is smaller than before. To retain the tradition the local government has built a Shujaing Brocade Institute to bring together and continue the unique techniques. They also use Shu Brocade to weave modern and ancient pictures.

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