Sun and Moon Chinese Silk Embroidery Panel

Brief Item Record

Title: Sun and Moon Chinese Silk Embroidery Panel

Description: Chinese silk embroidery panel of multiple people in four mirrored scenes that begin in the day and end in the night, from top to bottom.

Scene 1: A person carrying red fruits on a platter and another person carrying a blue bottle with the red sun over them. The sun has the Chinese character for sun, 日, embroidered in blue inside it. The hair of both persons are traced in ink, but incomplete.

Scene 2: A person is addressing someone of apparently higher status, who is being fanned by a third person , possibly a servant. They are outside of an extravagant building. Only the person of high status has their hair embroidered, in brown thread.

Scene 3: The same person from the first panel, identifiable via their clothing pattern, is holding a fan and alone outdoors. Hair is traced in ink but not embroidered yet. A Buddhist svastika is embroidered in gold next to them.

Scene 4: A young and an old person hold hands under the moon. The young person's hair is unfinished, the shorter old person's hair is silver. The blue moon has the Chinese character for moon, 月 , embroidered in red inside it.

All scenes are embroidered on a blue silk background panel. Mirrored scenes are not an exact copy upon closer inspection; people in scenes 1, 3 , and 4 can be observed to have different patterns and colors of clothing than their mirrored counterparts.

Full Item Record

Dublin Core

Identifier

VC2017010

Title

Sun and Moon Chinese Silk Embroidery Panel

Description

Chinese silk embroidery panel of multiple people in four mirrored scenes that begin in the day and end in the night, from top to bottom.

Scene 1: A person carrying red fruits on a platter and another person carrying a blue bottle with the red sun over them. The sun has the Chinese character for sun, 日, embroidered in blue inside it. The hair of both persons are traced in ink, but incomplete.

Scene 2: A person is addressing someone of apparently higher status, who is being fanned by a third person , possibly a servant. They are outside of an extravagant building. Only the person of high status has their hair embroidered, in brown thread.

Scene 3: The same person from the first panel, identifiable via their clothing pattern, is holding a fan and alone outdoors. Hair is traced in ink but not embroidered yet. A Buddhist svastika is embroidered in gold next to them.

Scene 4: A young and an old person hold hands under the moon. The young person's hair is unfinished, the shorter old person's hair is silver. The blue moon has the Chinese character for moon, 月 , embroidered in red inside it.

All scenes are embroidered on a blue silk background panel. Mirrored scenes are not an exact copy upon closer inspection; people in scenes 1, 3 , and 4 can be observed to have different patterns and colors of clothing than their mirrored counterparts.

Subject

Clothing and dress

Relation

VC2016001; VC2016002; VC2017003; VC2017004; VC2017005; VC2017006; VC2017007; VC2017008; VC2017009

Extent

other measurements: Tapestry (a): 28.00 inches (length), 3.25 inches (width of one panel), 6.50 inches (width of both panels)

Medium

Type

Physical Object

Spatial Coverage

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

Rights Holder

© Vassar College Costume Collection. Images in this collection may be used for teaching, classroom presentation, and research purposes only. For other reuse, reproduction and publication of these images, contact costumeshop@vassar.edu.

Costume Item Type Metadata

Cataloguer with Date

Zuheily Quinones 2017-03-09, Mahalia Hunter 2020-09-17

Color Main

Color Secondary

Measurements Other

Tapestry (a): 28.00 inches (length), 3.25 inches (width of one panel), 6.50 inches (width of both panels)

All Measurements

other measurements: Tapestry (a): 28.00 inches (length), 3.25 inches (width of one panel), 6.50 inches (width of both panels)

Donor

Christina Carroll
Cynthia Bowen

Culture

Classification

costume
clothing

Socio-Economic Class

Public Information

Chinese silk embroidery panel of multiple people in four mirrored scenes that begin in the day and end in the night, from top to bottom.

Condition Term

very good

Condition Description

Unfinished embroidery, frayed at unfinished edges of panel. Otherwise sturdy.

Work Type

Citation

“Sun and Moon Chinese Silk Embroidery Panel,” Vassar College Costume Collection, accessed December 2, 2023, https://vccc.vassarspaces.net/items/show/6216.

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