Untitled

Unknown

late 17th–early 18th century · Cut and voided silk velvet · Asian Art

The length of this chair strip is divided into segments, with a different floral design for each part of the chair being covered-the front legs, seat, and back, and a short segment that hangs behind the chair. Tree peonies dominate the floral designs, and some segments are actually miniature garden scenes, with decorative, perforated garden rocks and butterflies. In the term for the textile's structure ("cut and voided velvet"), "cut" refers to the fact that, as in most velvets we use today, the pile loops have been cut; "voided" refers to areas without pile, where the pile warps were not raised onto velvet rods at all but were instead allowed to remain concealed in the background. In this piece, the pattern appears in cut pile, and the background and details of the pattern, such as the veins of leaves, are voided.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 17th–early 18th century

Medium

Cut and voided silk velvet

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1971