Not on display

Length of Cotton

ca. 1970 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
China (made)

Cotton cloth with a trailing gourd design framed in a decorative border resisted in white against a blue ground. The edges of the cotton are turned under and machine sewn in blue.
The resisting substance is likely to have been wax, as used by non-Han people living in southwestern China.

Object details

Category
Textiles
Object type
Length of cotton
Materials and techniques
Resist-dyed cotton
Cotton (Textile)
Resist Dyeing
Brief description
Length of cotton, white resist dyeing on a blue cotton ground, China, ca.1970
Physical description
Cotton cloth with a trailing gourd design framed in a decorative border resisted in white against a blue ground. The edges of the cotton are turned under and machine sewn in blue.
The resisting substance is likely to have been wax, as used by non-Han people living in southwestern China.
Dimensions
  • Length: 45cm
  • Width: 29cm
Gallery label
Borders of different widths and designs are characteristic features of these resist-dyed textiles. The bottle gourds on this piece are a commonly-occuring motif among Han Chinese as well as minority groups. This is just one example of a pattern that is shared between several peoples and it may have numerous interpretations. We cannot be certain what the motifs meant to the minority people who produced this cloth. For Han Chinese, this type of gourd is associated with Daoism and also expresses wishes for sons.
Credit line
Addis Bequest
Object history
These blue and white cotton pieces (FE.97 to O-1983) were loosely wrapped in paper from the Peking Arts and Crafts Shop and it may be that all of them were purchased there rather than in the areas of manufacture.

Registered File number 1965/3344.
Subject depicted
Gourd
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
FE.97J-1983

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Record createdFebruary 12, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O23475/length-of-cotton-unknown/
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