How to Appreciate Chinese Hand Embroidery
Posted: Sunday, February 05, 2006
by Susan Yip
Susan Yip
Chinese hand embroidery is a combination of art and high hand skills. Among all Chinese hand embroideries, Su embroidery, the hand embroidery made in Suzhou China, is widely acknowledged as the best one. Su hand embroidery is very delicate and highly collectable. The Su embroidered paintings is comparble to oil painting and is used by many people as a wall decor for home and office. Here are some tips for how to appreciate fine Chinese hand embroidery.
1. Quality
Fine Chinese hand embroidery works have much higher quality in almost all aspects compared to average Su embroidery products. All fine Su embroidery works are designed by artists. The embroidery craftswomen also have to pass certain qualification to perform the needlework for fine embroidery. Compare the following two pictures and you will understand why fine Su embroidery pieces are highly collectable and valuable. To create a high quality piece, an artist needs to split a single silk thread into several thinner threads and embroider layer after layer with threads of a variety of colors to reach the final wonderful effect. A top quality Su embroidery piece can take 5-6 embroidery craftswomen several years to complete.
2. Embroidery Size
If two embroidery pieces are of the same quality, the large one is reasonably more expensive because it takes more time to complete. Generally speaking, the larger the size of an embroidery piece, the higher the value of the piece. But customers should be aware that not all large-size embroidery pieces are more expensive than small ones. This is because some large embroidery pieces are not fully embroidered- the background of the embroidery pieces is not hand embroidered but painted or printed. Partly embroidered pieces are always cheaper than fully embroidered ones. So customers should know if the embroidery item they plan to buy is fully embroidered or partly embroidered when purchasing embroidery artworks online. Otherwise the size may mean nothing.
3. Embroidery Technique
4. Artistic Value
The most collectable embroidery pieces are top quality pieces with classic painting styles or embroidered reproductions of masterpiece paintings.
This article was written by Susan Yip, the owner of Su Embroidery Art Studio. For more articles on Chinese embroidery art, you may visit her site at www.suembroidery.com
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