wedding robe with butterflies, unknown maker from China

Exhibition Label: "Nature/Natural," Feb-2011, Kris Ercums Red is the color of weddings in China. Pairs of butterflies flutter across the ground of this brilliant robe made for the wedding ceremony of a young woman. The combination of two symbols—butterflies (hudie 蝴蝶) and intertwined branches of plum flowers (meihua 梅花)—evokes thoughts associated with springtime, young love, and conjugal bliss. Rendered in fine detail, twisting and turning with spontaneity, each butterfly was created using an extremely time consuming process known as kesi 緙絲 (silk tapestry weave). Exhibition Label: “Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art,” Nov-2005, Mary Dusenbury Pairs of butterflies flit among paired blossoms on the brilliant red ground of this young woman’s robe, evoking thoughts of springtime, young love, and conjugal happiness. The butterflies are rendered with the same attention to detail as seen in a scientific manual, and yet they appear to twist and turn with a spontaneity that belies the difficulty of the kesi (silk tapestry weave) technique. This was probably a wedding garment. Archive Label 2003 (version 1): Pairs of butterflies, symbols of conjugal happiness, flit among paired blossoms on the brilliant red ground of this young woman’s informal robe evoking thoughts of springtime, young love and hopes for a lifetime of happiness. The butterflies are rendered with the same care for detail as in a scientific manual and yet appear to twist and turn with a spontaneity that belies the difficulty of the kesi technique. Archive Label 2003 (version 2): Pairs of butterflies, symbols of conjugal happiness, flit among paired blossoms on the brilliant red ground of this young woman’s informal robe evoking thoughts of springtime, young love, and hopes for a lifetime of happiness. Here the butterflies are rendered with the same detail as in a biological illustration, but still appear to twist and turn spontaneously.