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Woman's Jacket

1910-1917 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This jacket would have been made and worn in the south-west of China by the Miao people. The entire jacket is fashioned from pieces of silk, cotton and wool, some of which are densely embroidered. Separate pieces of material, later made up into jackets, were easier for women to pick up and work on as they moved about their homes doing domestic chores. Triangles of different coloured plain and yellow-spotted resist-dyed cotton as well as red striped wool were used in this garment. Arranged in a pattern of concentric diamonds, the patchwork is outlined with a broad band of red wool to which a zigzag stitching line in blue has been added. Folded applique strips, in bands of white, red and blue, mark the edge of the triangular patchwork section towards the shoulder. The many different techniques employed on this jacket attest to the versatility of its maker; all Miao clothese are showcases for several technical skills. The donor of this jacket was Britain's consul general for this area of China at the beginning of the twentieth century and he acquired the jacket himself from a woman who had reportedly taken two years to make it.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Cotton, wool and silk, with silk embroidery, applied strips of silk, wool and cotton, resist dyeing and block printing, patchwork
Brief description
Festive jacket for a Miao woman, cotton, wool and silk patchwork, with silk embroidery and applied work, made by the Miao minority group (Black Miao) in Anshun prefecture, Guizhou province, China, 1910-1917
Physical description
Woman's jacket with long sleeves, made up of a patchwork of pieces of white and coloured cotton, red woollen cloth and red, blue and purple silk; the patterns with which the jacket is decorated consist largely of embroidery in coloured silk threads, but partly of applied strips of coloured silk, woollen and cotton cloth, outlined with red silk gimp; to a small extent patterns have been affected by dyeing with resists and by block-printing.

Jackets like this a work on holiday occasions by women of the Black Miao ethnic group, native of Guizhou province in southwestern China.

The pattern embroiderd on the body consists of lozenges filled with rosettes or conventional blossoms, the interspaces between occupied with delicate floral scrolls. The pattern on the sleeves is in two long panels and largely consists of chequer ornament.
Dimensions
  • Height: 61.0cm
  • Width: 152.4cm
Styles
Credit line
Given by Mr B. G. Tours CMG
Object history
Registered File number 1922/3174.

Notes on significance: Festival garment of the Black Miao minority

The donor of this jacket, Mr B. G. Tours, was Britain's consul general for this area of China at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1917 he acquired the jacket himself in Anshun area from a woman who had reportedly taken two years to make it.
Production
Made by the Miao minority group in Guizhou province.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This jacket would have been made and worn in the south-west of China by the Miao people. The entire jacket is fashioned from pieces of silk, cotton and wool, some of which are densely embroidered. Separate pieces of material, later made up into jackets, were easier for women to pick up and work on as they moved about their homes doing domestic chores. Triangles of different coloured plain and yellow-spotted resist-dyed cotton as well as red striped wool were used in this garment. Arranged in a pattern of concentric diamonds, the patchwork is outlined with a broad band of red wool to which a zigzag stitching line in blue has been added. Folded applique strips, in bands of white, red and blue, mark the edge of the triangular patchwork section towards the shoulder. The many different techniques employed on this jacket attest to the versatility of its maker; all Miao clothese are showcases for several technical skills. The donor of this jacket was Britain's consul general for this area of China at the beginning of the twentieth century and he acquired the jacket himself from a woman who had reportedly taken two years to make it.
Bibliographic references
  • Prunner, Gernot Kunsthandwerk aus Guizhou (China), Hamburgisches Museum fur Volkerkunde, 1983
  • China House Gallery, Richly Woven Traditions; Costumes of the Miao of Southwest China and Beyond, New York City : China Institute of America, c1987
  • Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson; with contributions from Anna Jackson and Charlotte Horlyck Dress in detail from around the world London: V&A Publications, 2002, pp. 118-119.
Collection
Accession number
T.78-1922

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Record createdFebruary 12, 2000
Record URL
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