A silk picture built thread by thread so that even the smallest leaf has a clean edge, as if the painting had been grown rather than woven.
Zhu Kerou was a woman artisan of the Song whose kesi, a silk tapestry that leaves no weave-direction blur, was prized by connoisseurs as equal to painting. The method wastes most of its thread to keep the outline sharp, which is why a single scroll could take a year.
The Palace Museum in Beijing keeps her surviving pieces. They are the argument that the highest Chinese craft could match the highest Chinese painting, thread for brush.
Object details
| Name | Kesi Silk Tapestry by Zhu Kerou (朱克柔缂丝) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | — |
| Technique | Silk tapestry (kesi) |
| Period | Northern Song dynasty |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | 北京故宫博物院 |
Image © The Palace Museum, Beijing. See the original in the museum collection.