The rich tradition of China’s embroidery, which has influenced the art in many parts of the world, reflects the cultural importance of the Imperial Court of Peking, rather than the geographical divisions of this enormous country. The most famous and characteristic examples of Chinese embroidery and goldwork were fashioned in the court of the Imperial City before the revolution of 1911. Metal thread embroidery lost much of its appeal during the period of the Nationalist Republic between 1911 and 1949. Fortunately goldwork embroidery is now back in fashion in China and is being encouraged by the authorities.

The Chinese were the first to discover how to spin and weave cloth from silk. China still today produces a quarter of the world’s silk. Cotton is also farmed, but although cotton thread and fabric are sometimes employed for folk embroideries, the general embroidery of china consists of silk and metal thread stitching on a silk ground, sometimes in the form of very fine gauze. The Chinese has dye workshops as early as 3000BC. The five dominant colours traditionally used are blue, yellow, red, white and black, all of which are produced from natural dyes. Safflower, used elsewhere to produce a soluble yellow dye, was generally used by Chinese dyers to achieve a red and sometimes pinkish shade similar to legal ‘red tape’ binding.

Satin stitch is the most commonly used stitch in Chinese embroidery. Sometimes two craftsmen work together on a vertical frame to produce double-sided satin stitch in which exquisite pictures are worked without a reverse side. Peking, or Chinese stitch is a form of interlaced back stitch, and a knot, known as Peking, Chinese or the ‘forbidden’ knot is used for infilling motifs. Voiding between satin stitch blocks is a characteristic technique of traditional Chinese embroidery. Few western embroiderers, even those of eighteenth century France, ever attained the perfection of Chinese voiding. Another distinctive technique of the period was to infill entire motifs with two parallel threads, usually in goldwork thread, laid in coils and couched with bright red silk thread.

Many professional embroiderers worked for the court and embroidered elaborate pieces for ceremonial occasions. However, others worked exclusively for the export market, and embroidered panels of cloth with exquisite metal thread patterns. These would occasionally be sent to countries like Italy and be made up into shoes. Export embroidery can be distinguished by the western features on the faces in the design, which were usually executed in silk with delicate goldwork thread on a silk ground.