What is Shu brocade? Authentic Sichuan Chengdu specialty: Shu brocade
Content summary:Do you want to know what Shu brocade is? This article is a detailed introduction to the Sichuan Chengdu specialty - Shu Brocade. It was compiled and edited by the editorial team of China Specialty Network after reviewing and collecting relevant information on Shu Brocade. The full text takes about 8 minutes to read, mainly including the basic introduction of Shu Brocade and the product characteristics of Shu Brocade? How did the history of Shu brocade come about? The production method of Shu brocade, the awards and honors of Shu brocade, etc.
Basic Introduction of Shu Brocade
Shu brocade, also known as Shujiang brocade, refers to silk fabrics of the brocade type produced in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China during the Warring States period. It has a history of two thousand years and is mostly colored on the warp and weft, decorated with colored stripes, and decorated with warp and weft. The colored stripes are added first before the brocade group, and square, strip, and geometric skeletons are decorated with flowers. It has symmetrical patterns, continuous four directions, bright colors, strong contrast, and is a colorful woven brocade with Han ethnic characteristics and local styles. It is known as one of the four famous brocades in China, along with Yun brocade from Nanjing, Song brocade from Suzhou, and Zhuang brocade from Guangxi What are the product features of Shu brocade? Shu brocade is an important component of traditional Chinese dyeing and weaving techniques. Shu brocade patterns occupy a magnificent chapter in Chinese arts and crafts, and have a huge and profound influence on the development of silk dyeing and weaving patterns in later generations of China. The materials for Shu brocade patterns are very extensive and rich, such as myths and legends, historical stories, auspicious inscriptions, landscape figures, flowers, birds, poultry, and animals. Over thousands of years, they have been continuously developed and refined, with a high degree of generalization and artistic level. Among them, the patterns of combination, dragon and phoenix patterns, cluster patterns, flowers and birds patterns, rolled grass patterns, geometric patterns, bird and animal patterns, as well as traditional patterns such as square, halo, and strip brocade groups are still popular among the general public. The patterns of Shu brocade have undergone more than 2000 years of development and changes, with different characteristics in different historical periods. A consistent feature of Shu brocade patterns is the extensive and clever use of integrated patterns. Shu brocade artists are skilled at cleverly selecting animals, plants, objects, character patterns, geometric patterns, natural scenery, and various auspicious birds and beasts as themes. They use their shapes, meanings, and sounds to combine them into patterns with certain meanings or symbolic meanings, which is called the combination pattern. How did the history of Shu brocade come about? Shu brocade has a history of two thousand years. Shan Qian's "Danyang Ji" states: "There has never been brocade in the past dynasties, and Chengdu is known as Miao. Therefore, during the Three Kingdoms period, the city of Wei was located in Shu, and Wu also invested in Western Shu, so it did exist." This is the general term for the characteristic brocade produced in Shu County (now Chengdu, Sichuan) during the Han and Three Kingdoms periods. Characterized by longitudinal stripes and adding flowers to the stripes.
"Jin" is an ancient Chinese silk fabric, representing the highest level of technical expertise in silk fabrics. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the "Lingjin Academy" was established in the capital city of Bianjing, which collected more than 400 weaving machines and brought in numerous skilled Sichuan brocade workers as its backbone. Additionally, a "Transportation Department Jinyuan" will be established in Chengdu. There are two most famous types of brocade in the Song Dynasty, one is Shu brocade produced in Sichuan, and the other is the so-called "Song brocade" produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces such as Suzhou, Huzhou, and Hangzhou. After the Southern Song Dynasty relocated its capital to Hangzhou, the Song Brocade Weaving Office was established in Suzhou, and the Sichuan brocade weavers and machines from Chengdu were moved to Suzhou. The center of the silk weaving industry gradually shifted southward, and the county governor Shan Qianzhi introduced brocade weavers from Sichuan to establish the Douchang Brocade Office in Danyang (Nanjing, the capital of the Southern Liu Song Dynasty), bringing Sichuan brocade skills to Jiangnan. There are four famous brocades in China: Sichuan brocades, Jiangsu brocades, Nanjing brocades, and Guangxi brocades. Sichuan brocades, due to its long history and unique craftsmanship, are known as the "mother of all brocades".
"Shu" is the ancient name of Sichuan. Due to the abundant production of mulberry trees and mulberry worms, as well as the production of silk by silkworms spinning cocoons, Shu has been known as the "ancient country of silkworm clusters" since ancient times. It is known for producing silk fabrics and has spread silk and brocade to various parts of the world through the Silk Road. The raw material of Shu brocade is silk, which is extremely precious. Its production process is complicated and the production efficiency is low. Therefore, in ancient times, there was a saying that "every inch of brocade is worth every inch of gold". At that time, Shu brocade was a luxury item only enjoyed by the royal family and high-ranking officials.
The production method of Shu brocade
The completion of a Shu brocade requires several complex procedures, including design, finalization, weaving, weaving, and weaving.
. From the design of the pattern to the completion of the brocade, it can take as short as four or five months, and as long as one year. The process of "weaving" alone involves many skills and techniques, such as knotting, rod tying, flower pulling, shuttle throwing, turning and bending, and jointing. For example, throwing a shuttle is a seemingly simple step in the weaving process, but it is not easy to operate in practice. It takes three years to practice just throwing a two pound shuttle smoothly out of the fine warp and weft threads. The Shu brocade, hand woven through such intricate craftsmanship, has bright and vibrant colors. When viewed from different angles, light reflects different colors, creating a lifelike effect. Upon closer inspection of the pattern, it has a special three-dimensional effect of relief inlay.Awards and honors of Shu brocade
In 2006, the weaving techniques of Shu brocade were approved by the State Council and included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
. The Chengdu Shu Brocade Weaving and Embroidery Museum is the inheritor of Shu brocade craftsmanship. Shu brocade is also the predecessor of Kyoto Nishijin Weaving, a traditional Japanese national treasure level handicraft.