Trade Stories: Chinese Export Embroideries in the Metropolitan Museum

IF 0.2 2区 艺术学 0 ART METROPOLITAN MUSEUM JOURNAL Pub Date : 2014-01-01 DOI:10.1086/680031
Masako Yoshida
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Abstract

Three silk textiles embroidered with flower, bird, and animal motifs entered the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1929 as part of a single bequest. Nineteen years later, the museum received a fourth textile, with similar characteristics, from another donor. About this group of objects, which are clearly identifiable as Chinese export embroideries, little else is known for certain. The present article is a first attempt at establishing a history of these works, provisionally setting forth their dates and place of origin, the uses they possibly served, and the routes they may have taken on their centuries-long journey from China to New York. The formats and decorative compositions of the Metropolitan Museum’s embroideries are consistent with those of a specific class of Chinese textiles that were produced as bedcovers for the European market between 1550 and 1800. Similar pieces currently preserved in Japan and Europe attest to the fact that such textiles were exported to both East and west; none remain in China. Their popularity led to the production of imitations in countries along the trade routes and to the evolution of an international style that spread as far as the Andes. Thus, the Museum’s pieces are part of a larger category of textiles represented in collections around the world. Embroideries of this type feature at their center a peony encircled by a pair of facing phoenixes. The phoenixes, in turn, are surrounded by flowers, birds, and a variety of animals. Such compositions are found in two basic formats: vertical, with distinct top and bottom; and four-directional, with motifs radiating from the center. The backgrounds of these works are of two types also: in one, the background is covered entirely with gold-thread embroidery; in the other, the unadorned foundation fabric serves as the backdrop. The stylistic analysis presented in this article will focus exclusively on four-directional compositions with gold backgrounds. The three embroideries that came to the Metropolitan Museum in 1929 were bequeathed by Mrs. h. O. havemeyer; the fourth, bestowed in 1948, was a gift from Catherine D. wentworth. The havemeyer textiles were regarded initially as discrete objects, and each was assigned an accession number. Many years later, however, the Museum’s Textile Conservation Department discovered that the smallest of the three embroideries had been pieced together mostly with fragments from the other two, and conservators embarked on a project to detach the mismatched fragments and restore them to their original positions in the two larger embroideries (see Appendix Diagrams 1 – 3). As a result of this ongoing work, the number of the havemeyer textiles has effectively been reduced from three to two. (All that remains of the third havemeyer textile are two long, narrow strips; see Appendix Diagram 3.) These two embroideries will be referred to here as MMA I (Figure 1) and MMA II (Figure 2). Of the Metropolitan’s embroideries, only the wentworth gift, hereafter referred to as MMA III (Figure 3), is complete. Unfortunately, the work’s original appearance was significantly altered during an earlier restoration, and, since no information has come to light regarding when or where the donor acquired the piece, it is difficult to speculate on its travel history. For these reasons, MMA III will be discussed mainly with regard to the place and date of its production.
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贸易故事:大都会博物馆的中国出口刺绣
1929年,三件绣有花、鸟和动物图案的丝绸纺织品作为单一遗产的一部分进入了大都会艺术博物馆的收藏。19年后,博物馆从另一位捐赠者那里收到了第四件具有类似特征的纺织品。关于这组物品,可以清楚地看出它们是中国出口的刺绣,其他的就不得而知了。本文是第一次尝试建立这些作品的历史,暂时列出它们的起源日期和地点,它们可能的用途,以及它们从中国到纽约长达几个世纪的旅程中可能采取的路线。大都会博物馆的刺绣作品的形式和装饰成分与1550年至1800年间为欧洲市场生产的床罩一类中国纺织品的形式和装饰成分一致。目前在日本和欧洲保存的类似碎片证明了这样的纺织品出口到东方和西方的事实;没有一个留在中国。它们的流行导致了沿贸易路线的国家的仿制品的生产,并导致了一种国际风格的演变,传播到安第斯山脉。因此,博物馆的作品是世界各地收藏的更大类别纺织品的一部分。这种类型的刺绣以牡丹为中心,由一对相对的凤凰环绕。凤凰,反过来,被鲜花,鸟类和各种各样的动物包围。这种组合有两种基本形式:垂直的,有明显的顶部和底部;四个方向,图案从中心向外辐射。这些作品的背景也有两种类型:一种是背景完全被金线刺绣覆盖;在另一个空间中,朴素的基础织物作为背景。在这篇文章中提出的风格分析将专注于金色背景的四向构图。1929年来到大都会博物馆的三件刺绣品是h·o·哈梅耶夫人遗赠的;第四个是1948年凯瑟琳·d·温特沃斯(Catherine D. wentworth)赠送的礼物。这些纺织品最初被视为独立的对象,每一个都被分配了一个登记号。然而,多年后,博物馆的纺织品保护部发现,三件刺绣中最小的一件大部分是用另外两件的碎片拼凑而成的,文物保护人员开始了一项工程,将不匹配的碎片分离出来,并将它们恢复到两件大刺绣的原始位置(见附录图1 - 3)。由于这项持续进行的工作,哈夫耶尔纺织品的数量实际上已经从三件减少到两件。(第三种纺织品只剩下两条又长又窄的条;见附录图3。)这两种刺绣在这里被称为MMA I(图1)和MMA II(图2)。在大都会的刺绣中,只有温特沃斯的礼物(下文称为MMA III(图3))是完整的。不幸的是,在早期的修复过程中,这件作品的原始外观发生了很大的变化,而且由于没有关于捐赠者何时何地获得这件作品的信息,因此很难推测它的旅行历史。由于这些原因,MMA III将主要讨论其生产的地点和日期。
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