W240xH170mm, China
The embroidery for this child’s du dou (traditional under garment) departed from the popular theme of blessing; that of fertility, protection, etc.
It is unusual for the embroidery to depart from the generic themes of blessing, I have a feeling that the embroidery is the portrait if of the child the du dou is for, a chubby naughty boy who is the darling in her mother’s eyes.
Click to see our other du dou.
W510xH420mm, China
In the center of the du dou (traditional Chinese under garment) is an embroidery of the Goddess of Child Delivery, the Taoist goddess who is in charge of fertility and child bearing. The young wives would worship the goddess by offering sweet and fruits in the temple, a “cim” stick would be drawn, a lucky cim would meant the goddess has granted the woman’s wish of having a child, a small jacket would then be put on the child figurine which the goddess is holding. After the child is born, the mother would return to thank the goddess with a feast of offering.
W350xL350mm, China
A delicate embroidery of flowers with gold threads on a fine piece of silk. An example of the school of Guangdong embroidery where different thread material is being used, gold, silver, horse hair and even threads made from peacock’s feather.
This item is a du dou, a traditional under garment which is made by the girl for their lover, husband and children. The pattern on the this du dou seems to be cropped which might indicate that it was taken from a fine top garment, something that is far too precious to throw away even if certain part is torn.
W340xL340mm, China
This is fine piece of embroidery on silk.
A corner is trimmed back on this perfect square, a minimal cutting for the costume.
A Du Dou, a traditional undergarment.
The curve is placed on the collar with a string tied around the neck, strings from the two diagonal corners tied around the body.
Chrysanthemum and peony flowers are the theme of the embroidery, symbolizing happiness and wealth.
Here is a demonstration of how this is worn.
DIA190mm, China
This embroidery is taken from a traditional Chinese under garment, the du dou, a garment that is made by the mother for the child as an extension of love and blessing. The design of this embroidery showed the well wishes of the mother, the hope that her child would become a zhuang yuan, the scholar who came first in the official examination. Since the Siu dynasty, the imperial court has set up a system of examination to find the best scholar to take up an imperial post. This is perhaps the only way to promote one’s status in a hereditary society.
In the embroidery, there is the zhuang yuan holding a bamboo while stepping on head of the Ao fish. 獨占鰲頭, occupying the head of the so fish alone, is a symbol of being the zhuang yuan for during the ceremony with the emperor the zhuang yuan will be standing on the head of a stone carving of the ao fish.
DIA250mm, China
This embroidery was taken from a du dou, a traditional Chinese under garment. Du dou for men and children are mostly decorated with embroidery, normally by the mother or the lover. This embroidery is one from the mother to the child, the pattern of the embroidery is filled with object of blessing.
In the middle is a TIGER, representing bravery.
Surrounding the tiger are 6 treasures (from 12 o’clock);
GOURD – charm against evils,
BOOKS – wisdom
FAN – inject life into the dead (one of the treasures of the 8 Immortals)
XIU QIU – love
SCISSOR – charm against evils
RHINOCEROS HORN – victory
PAINTINGS – scholarly
Embroidery DIA200mm, China
This embroidery is from a silk du dou, a more elaborated version than the one shown in the previous post – du dou. The du dou is the traditional undergarment for the Chinese; it was invented by Nu Wa and Fu Xi, the Chinese version of Adam and Eve and this is their version of the fig leave. The embroidery has a symbolic meaning of fertility; in the center is a baby with a long life locket, under him is is a pomegranate (a fruit of many seeds), over him is a bat (which has the same pronunciation as “blessing”)
L250xW350mm, China
Du Dou is the traditional Chinese undergarment to be worn on the upper part of the body. The top will be hang around the neck by a ribbon while the side is tied around the body by another ribbon. It is usually made by the female for their lovers, hubby, children or for their own use. The one used by the female are usually a simple red cloth without any embroidery, the one for the lover are more elaborated the theme for the embroidery will be some love story from opera, legends etc. The embroidery made for the children are that of blessing, zodiac signs, etc.
L350xD25xH130, China
This golden wood carving used to be center pediment of an ornamental object, perhaps on small shrine in a temple.
On the carving, there are 2 dragons chasing after a pearl. Dragons are believed to be mythical creatures from the sky, they need to attain a certain quality to become a saint. After a few hundred years, the essence of what they have learnt from nature would become a pearl like pellet. The dragon would spit out the pearl for it absorb the spirit of nature and the bigger the pearl would grow. One day while a dragon was practicing with his pearl, another dragon decided to take this pearl to speedup his own attainment. The bad dragon spit out his pearl hoping it would absorb the other, the two pearls melted and became one giant pearl, both dragons wanted to take it in and started using all their tricks. Their fight upset the nature of the universe and the Jade Emperor took them in and set the pearl on the temple which would be protected by the dragons for good
DIA 150xH50mm, China
This item selected by Furze for the Something Old Something New exhibition and is available at both Mountain Folkcraft and Soil.
This is a folk version of the double happiness bowl; on the refined version the bowl is decorated with the word 囍 (double happiness) and a winding stem pattern that is popular in the Qing dynasty. While the design is passed down from an official kiln to a commoner’s kiln, the design is abstracted over generation of craftsman. This is likely to be due to that the craftsman are mostly illiterate and the design was taught to the young apprentice almost as a symbol from their master who has learnt it the same way. Nevertheless, this abstracted bowl is known to them also as the double happiness bowl, equivalent to the original item. The painter Wu Kuan Chung made this observation about the under glaze decoration of commoner’s kiln; some ideas which was inspired by daily life, they can being transformed into another type of art form by subtraction, multiplication or other means as long as it is still tied to the origin of living.
Can you spot the work 囍 and the scrolling foliage pattern?
Here are some hints;
the first 2 are folk version of a less simplified bowl and the last being a more refined version. (I somehow preferred the abstracted version)
Answer: the pattern that looks like # is the word 囍 and the three circle is part of the scrolling foliage pattern.
Mountain Folkcraft 