Quick Answer: What Is Dui Embroidery?
Dui embroidery (堆绣, duīxiù) builds a picture with cut fabric pieces sewn to a ground. Some areas can be padded to rise above the surface. In Huangzhong, Qinghai, the technique is associated with Tibetan Buddhist thangkas (唐卡, tángkǎ) and is also practiced by makers in surrounding communities.[1][2]
- Materials: Colored silk cloth supplies the shapes. Cotton or wool can fill raised areas.[2]
- Construction: The cut pieces provide much of the color and outline. Stitches secure pieces and can add detail.[2]
- Relief: The Huangzhong tradition includes flat arrangements and raised work.[2][3]
An edge, overlapping seam or padded contour can help you recognize how the image was assembled.
A fold of cloth on a hanging image may look like a brushstroke from across the room. At close range the change in color can turn out to be the edge of a separate piece of silk. In some dui work, that piece also casts a shadow.
How Cut Fabric Builds a Picture
The maker begins with a design and chooses cloth for separate shapes. A piece of colored or patterned silk can represent part of a figure, a flower or a piece of clothing. It is cut, positioned and sewn in place. The stitches hold the shape to the ground, and some details can be added with thread or color after the fabric is assembled.[2]
Flat work keeps most of the surface close to the ground. In raised work, the maker can place cotton or wool under chosen sections. Padding gives a selected part of the design its volume while leaving the surrounding surface relatively flat. A raised fold of a robe and an adjoining flat patch can therefore make different shadows even if both are silk. The Xining account describes flat and ridged forms at Kumbum. An overview of Qinghai embroidery also mentions high-relief forms.[2][3]
The joined fabric shapes relate the technique to Chinese appliqué. In a thread-embroidered area, individual stitches supply the colored surface. In appliqué, a piece of cloth supplies it, and its own woven design can remain visible. Some dui images use both methods.
Huangzhong Makers and Kumbum Monastery
Huangzhong’s dui embroidery entered China’s national intangible cultural heritage list in 2008. The listing names Tianjiazhai and Duoba among the areas where the craft is practiced. It also describes its transmission among monastery artisans and local makers.[1]
At Kumbum Monastery (塔尔寺, Tǎ’ěrsì), the works are closely associated with Tibetan Buddhist images. The Xining account distinguishes individual images of Buddhas or bodhisattvas from joined compositions that may depict episodes from Buddhist stories. A single figure and a sequence of scenes ask the viewer to look at the image in different ways. The former centers attention on one subject, while a set of joined scenes can carry a narrative across several areas of cloth.[1][2]
How to Read a Layered Textile Image
At the edge of a shape, use an enlarged detail photograph or light falling across the surface to see seams and relief without touching the object. On an appliqué, its color may change exactly where one cloth piece meets the next. At a raised part, the seam may sit against the ground while the center projects. Then look inside the shape for separate lines of embroidery and painted details. Several techniques can work together in one image.[2][4]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s nineteenth-century thangka of Kurukulla, catalogued from Tibet, combines appliquéd satin, brocade and damask with embroidery and painted details. It offers a comparison for how different textiles can make an image. Its catalogue does not identify it as Huangzhong work. For Tibetan examples and how they are catalogued, see Tibetan pile embroidery.[4]
FAQs About Dui Embroidery
Does dui embroidery always rise off the surface?
No. The Kumbum account describes flat and raised approaches. In a raised area, filling can make an applied shape project above the background.[2]
Is every textile thangka Huangzhong dui embroidery?
Huangzhong is one local tradition. Textile thangkas can use other kinds of appliqué or embroidery, and their collection records may identify other places of origin.[1][4]
Is dui embroidery the same as Qinghai embroidery?
Qinghai embroidery is a broad name covering several traditions. Huangzhong dui embroidery is one of them. Other named examples include Tu coil embroidery and Huangyuan leather embroidery.[3]
Sources
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Huangzhong Dui Embroidery
[2] Xining Intangible Cultural Heritage Portal. Kumbum Monastery Tibetan Buddhist Dui Embroidery
[3] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Intangible Cultural Heritage in Qinghai
[4] The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rescuing the Goddess: Conservation of an Appliquéd Silk Tibetan Thangka