Issue 8
World Intangible Cultural Heritage, "Crown of Splendid Embroidery": Song Jin
The word "Nishiki"
With the sound of "gold",
It means "帛".
Contained in the interweaving of warp and weft lines
It is the painstaking effort of the craftsmen,
As well as profound cultural heritage and good wishes.
Stills from Ching Ping Le
Song Jin originated in the Spring and Autumn Period,
Formed in the Song Dynasty, brilliant in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
With mulberry silk as raw material warp and weft,
At the same time, the brocade with the artistic style of the Song Dynasty is displayed,
The Kangxi and Qianlong periods were the heyday of the history of the Song Dynasty.
Many of the best are collected in the Palace Museum,
Because the main production area is in Suzhou,
Therefore, when it comes to Song Jin in the future, it is called "Suzhou Song Jin".
Colorful Zhai bird pattern brocade Song Jin Queen dress
Suzhou Songjin, together with Nanjing Yunjin, Sichuan Shujin and Guangxi Zhuangjin, is known as the four famous brocades in China. It is delicate and beautiful, the color is simple, the pattern is elegant, and it is known as the "crown of splendid embroidery".
Why can Song Jin win the four famous brocades? Among them, the most important thing is that the appearance is high, the aesthetic is generous, suitable for royal and upper class society. Song Jin developed from Shu Jin, and the early Song Jin inherited the characteristics of Han and Tang Shu Jin, and also retained a large number of traditional styles. After the skills of Shu Brocade were introduced to Jiangnan, Suzhou also began to become a brocade powerhouse, and the Song Brocade Weaving Bureau of the Song Dynasty was built in Suzhou, and the advantages were also unique.
Song Brocade Weaving Agency
Influenced by the changes of the times and social fashion, as well as the painting style of the Song Dynasty Painting Academy, Song Jin has integrated a realistic style into the patterns, the pattern is fresh and natural, beautiful and feminine, and the subject matter is more extensive.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Song brocade was very different from Shu brocade in all aspects, with a light texture and thin flesh, rich and elegant flowers, thus becoming the second milestone of Chinese brocade weaving.
Over the years, Song Jin has his own unique style. In the pattern, precision and meticulousness, firm texture, flat clothes and structured; In the pattern, the pattern is symmetrical and rigorous, but it is full of changes, smooth and vivid; In terms of color, it is bright and vulgar, complex but not chaotic, and has a bright and quaint charm.
Song Jin adopted the method of exchanging longitude and latitude, so that the color of the silk surface was richer and the color cycle of the pattern was increased. Not only that, Song Jin also adopts the weaving method of "three twill tissues", two longitudes and three latitudes, the warp uses the bottom warp and the face warp, the bottom warp is a colored mature silk to make the ground pattern, and the face warp is made of the natural color raw silk, as the weft line is used as the knotted warp. Such a complex handicraft, Song Jin can only weave 10cm a day, which can be described as slow work and fine materials.
Song Brocade fabric structure unique "living color" exquisite craftsmanship,
With a pattern of simple and elegant colors,
The texture is delicate and light and flat.
The production of traditional Song Jin,
A wide range of processes,
From reeling dyeing to weaving products
It takes more than 20 processes before and after.
Its basic feature is
The organizational structure of the joint flower display of warp and weft threads is adopted,
The application of the unique technique of color change,
Enrich fabric surface color lines and organizational levels.
Speaking of the fame of Song Jin, and the strong admiration of the rulers, the Song Dynasty advocated Wenzhi, the mounting of calligraphy and painting is very exquisite, not only requires the material to be thin, but also practical, but also to look good, to have literary popularity, there is a model of everyone, Song Jin's varieties were rapidly developed, the variety is as many as 40 kinds, so good to use the material, used in calligraphy and painting is also a pity, after that, it is used in clothing and palaces on various "soft decoration", and even the texture patterns on the building have a tendency to imitate Song Jin.
The beauty of Song Jin lies in the complexity and non-indiscriminate, fine and firm, the color is gorgeous, the pattern arrangement is extremely exquisite, according to certain rules and formats, the pattern is extremely exquisite but not exaggerated, the Song and even the Ming and Qing dynasties like to add gold thread to it, increasing the royal style of wealth.
However, unlike the traditional "royal luxury", it is very practical and very wear-resistant, which is why it is applied in all aspects from framed calligraphy and painting to clothing decoration architecture.
Chinese through his own aesthetics and design, he has moved the flowers and plants of nature to silk, which is a major contribution of Nishiki.
Song Jin's pattern decoration is rigorous and regular and full of changes, often through the combination of various geometric patterns superimposed and icing on the cake, brocade open light and other forms of derived complex brocade pattern, the use of vivid and smooth lines, composition layout echo orderly, with a harmonious and natural color expression, the style is simple and elegant, not conventional.
Lingge four-in-one Ruyi brocade
According to the quality of raw materials, structure, fineness, thickness and density and performance of raw materials, Songjin can be divided into four categories: heavy brocade, fine brocade, box brocade and small brocade.
Chongjin "Western Elysium Map Axis" Qing, Beijing Palace Museum collection
Song Jin once flourished, but also once declined, and is now active on the stage of the times.
In 2006, Song Jin was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list and is well known by the Chinese people.
In September 2009, UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the World Intangible Cultural Heritage added Song Jin to the List of World Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Colorful Zhai pattern Song Jin
In 2014, the APEC meeting made Song Jin well known to the world.
Nowadays, Song Jin is integrated into the fashion elements, and on the stage of the times, it is showing the style of the new era.
What is cultural heritage?
Records are inheritance, research is inheritance,
Innovation is also a legacy.
Chinese culture has quietly nourished generations,
Now the era of national tide has arrived.
Contemporary people's cultural heritage should not carry heavy shackles,
Testimony is also inheritance.
I have seen that the grass and trees are green.
Culture is a good medicine, and the hometown is at ease.
With the light of fireworks, gather the Chinese charm,
From the perspective of "culture" and "design",
Explore the possibilities and sustainability of intangible cultural heritage+ in clothing,
Give a cultural and artistic touch to contemporary exquisite life.
Cultural inheritance, non-genetic inheritance,
We were on the road, walking non-stop.
Chinese civilization shines in this dynasty,
We have left us a vast and precious treasure.
Let's keep forging ahead and walk hand in hand.
About the intangible cultural heritage,
And then we have a lot of stories to tell.
Follow us,
Feel the charm of China together and protect the traditional Chinese culture.
With intangible cultural heritage as the core
Clothing is used as a medium
Create an oriental aesthetic lifestyle
For modern intellectual women
Create a refined and elegant living space