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On View Now at CMA: The Splendor of Chinese Textiles

Tags for: On View Now at CMA: The Splendor of Chinese Textiles
  • Blog Post
  • Exhibitions
March 2, 2018
Tibetan Man's Robe, Chuba, late 1600s. China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi period (1662-1772). 2007.216Public Domain

On view now in The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Chinese art gallery (240A), visitors can see stunning Chinese textiles from the Silk Road to the Imperial Court.

Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.

China has been producing silk for more than 4,000 years. Desired and exported all over the world, it was often equal in value to gold. The new gallery display (through August 12) highlights the museum’s Chinese textile collection and explores how the use of silk enriched, embellished, and shaped Chinese arts and culture.

Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.
Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.
Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.
Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.

Textiles played an important role in Chinese diplomacy, with gifts of silk serving to pacify border populations and to maintain balanced power relationships. Over the centuries, the Chinese court endeavored to keep stable relations with powerful Tibetan Buddhists. During the Qing dynasty, the Chinese court began sending gifts of court garments and furnishings to Tibet, where they were transformed into Tibetan-style robes.

Tibetan Man’s Robe, Chuba, late 1600s. China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1772). Silk, gilt-metal thread of two kinds: satin weave with supplementary weft patterning, Width across shoulders: 189.9 cm (74 3/4 in.); length back of neck to hem: 152.4 cm (60 in.). Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2007.216

For example: this magnificent robe for a Tibetan lama or an aristocrat was originally a Chinese imperial wall hanging. Tibetan tailors had cut the wall hanging into 60 separate pieces before reassembling it into a new, bold design.

 

Visiting Asia Week New York 2018 this month? Take a day-trip to Cleveland — only an hour-long flight away! Need some additional inspiration to make the trip? How about the opportunity to see a 4.5-ton, intricately carved bas-relief sculpture from the National Museum of Cambodia, on display for the first time in the United States and shown exclusively at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.
Image courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art.

Plan your trip to Cleveland to see this stunning piece, and the rest of CMA’s renowned Asian art collection now!