Chinese Silk Tapestry (Kesi)
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Textile with Clouds and an Auspicious BirdSilk tapestry (kesi) with gold leaf
Liao dynasty, 10th century (Gift of Ms. Tajima Fusae)Asian Gallery (Toyokan) Room 5
September 28, 2021 (Tue) - December 5, 2021 (Sun)The term kesi refers to slit tapestry. To make this kind of tapestry, different colors of horizontal (weft) threads are woven over and under the vertical (warp) threads only for a specific portion of the pattern, doubling back in on themselves when the desired width is reached. This method creates small gaps between each color in the pattern.
Kesi tapestry weaving grew extremely sophisticated during the Song dynasty (960–1279), and weavers began to produce richly-patterned tapestries that rivaled paintings in complexity and design. This exhibition traces the development of kesi textiles from northern China’s Liao dynasty (916–1125) to the Yuan (1271–1368) and Ming dynasties (1368–1644).
| Designation | Name | Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance |
Period | Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number |
CMT | ||
| Highlight | Textile with Animals, Birds, and Flowering Plants, Silk tapestry ("kesi") | China | Ming dynasty, 16th–17th century | TI-150 | |||
| Highlight | Textile with Clouds and an Auspicious Bird, Silk tapestry ("kesi") with gold leaf | China | Liao dynasty, 10th century | Gift of Ms. Tajima Fusae, TI-593 |