Hand Embroidery in China

Although these pieces look like beautiful paintings, they are actually hand made embroidery.  This is just a small sample which you can find in museum like stores in many parts of the country.  The three at the top came from one of the museum shops in Chengdu.  The bottom one I purchased in a small village outside of LiJiang in the mountains north of Kunming.  The woman took 3.5 months to do it and it was her own design.  I have several others in our home.  Hand made embroidery has been made usually by women in the countryside to bring money in for the family.  In past days one could find these beautiful pieces very inexpensive.  My wife  found some antique pieces in a remote village where the family was selling items from their mother who had passed.  One was from the mid 1800's.  One needs to be very careful when purchasing embroidery as many are now made by computer in work shops these days.  Close examination will tell you which are hand made and which are machine made.  If they are very cheap, you can realize that they are probably machine made.  Silk threads of many colors often hand dyed are used to embroider the shading and with light on them they will come almost live.   Private customized tours can take you to these places without pressure to buy so that you may admire the work and yes if interested you can also purchase them.  For more information, please contact me at  interlak@eskimo.com   My name is Dave.

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