Dunhuang fragments

Embroidered silk fragments of what may have been a Buddhist streamer, 9th century, recovered from Dunhuang, China. Embroidered silk fragments of what may have been a Buddhist streamer, 9th century, recovered from Dunhuang, China. Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. LOAN:STEIN.527:1, 2.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London houses a collection of textiles that were recovered in 1907 by the British/Hungarian explorer Aurel Stein (1862-1943) from the caves of Dunhuang in western China. These include two related silk fragments of what may have been a Buddhist streamer.

The embroidery is worked in satin stitch with multi-coloured silk threads and represents flotal motifs. The ground material is in blue, and is lined with green cloth. The larger fragment is 10 cm long.

Sources:

  • STEIN, Aurel (1921). Serindia: Detailed Report of Exploration in Central Asia and Westernmost China Carried Out and Described Under the Orders of H.M Indian Government, 5 vols, Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
  • ZHAO, Feng (ed. 2007). Textiles from Dunhuang in UK Collections, Shanghai: Donghua University Press. 

V&A online catalogue (retrieved 7th June 2017).

WV

Last modified on Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:00
Published in Fragments and panels
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