Painting, 'Drawing Silk Filaments', seven of sixteen by Wu Jun, watercolours on paper, Guangzhou, 1870-1890

Rectangular painting in cool tones depicting a central scene. It is bordered with blue ribbon. Two groups of figures, one group at work inside a building, a second group crouched around an object on the left.

This painting is from an album depicting the silk industry. Drawing silk filaments is a very important process. The cocoons are placed in a basin of hot water. In a rotating motion chopsticks are used to stir the water and to pick up the loose end of the filament which, passing through the guiding-eye, is led to the reel. Filaments from several cocoons are taken up together to form a single thread, the number of filaments depending on the quality of silk required.
One of sixteen paintings from a series numbered D.911 to 926-1901. Each sheet in the album depicting a different stage of the cultivation and manafacture of silk.
Purchased from Carl Langweil, accessioned in 1901. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.

This painting is from an album depicting the silk industry. It shows a very important process known as drawing silk filaments. The silk workers place the cocoons in a basin of hot water. They use chopsticks to stir the water and to pick up the loose end of the filament which is passed through the guiding-eye to the reel. They take up filaments from several cocoons together to form a single thread. The number of filaments depends on the quality of the silk required.

D.917-1901