When French Embroidery Meets Han Embroidery

By Zeng Pengling

Han embroidery is a popular genre of embroidery in Jianghan Plain, Central China’s Hubei Province, which was once a territory of the ancient Chu State, and the origin of Han embroidery stretches back over 2500 years. Qu Yuan, the great romantic poet and politician in his time once depicted in his famous poem “Summons of the Soul”(Zhao Hun) inVerses of Chu (Chu Ci)that, “As if decorated with emeralds and jewelry, the (Han)embroidery on the quilt make it a brilliant craftwork” and “In the(Han) embroidery garments, the beauty looks full of elegance and nobility.” Simple as the statement may be, it best voiced out the prosperity of Han embroidery in ancient China. At present, Han embroidery is turning a new page in its international exchange developments, serving as an important tool for telling Chinese stories.

漢繡旗袍Cheongsam with Han embroidery

Wang Ziyi, an inheritor of this cultural heritage, is one of the contemporary masters of Han embroidery in Wuhan. She grew up in an embroiderer’s family.When she was young, Wang Ziyi followed in her parents’ footsteps,studying Xiang embroidery(embroidering art of Hunan Province, Central China) and Su embroidery (embroidering art of Jiangsu Province, Eastern China),but in the 1980s, she switched to Han embroidery. Wang Ziyi has accomplished many fine pieces,and her works from her 30 years of embroidering are of both great artistic and aesthetic value.

漢繡代表性傳承人之一——王子怡Wang Ziyi, one of the inheritors of Han embroidery

In June 2018, a French visitor, eager to see Chinese Han embroidery with her own eyes,flew from Lyon to Wuhan to visit the craftsmen of Han embroidery.Marylene Eyral, now an haute couture designer of Chanel, was born in an embroiderer’s family and grew up in Lyon, the Silk City of Europe. Her mother is an embroidery artist, and her father is a silk craftsman. Eyral learned a lot from her mother and naturally became an excellent embroiderer. She also developed a unique understanding of the art. Since she became a Chanel designer, Eyral has been addicted to the exploration of beauty with silk and the charming feminine secrets of the embroidery works,which provided inspiration for her designs and innovations.

漢繡大師的里昂來客

文/曾鵬凌

漢繡之風，盛行于楚地，以江漢平原為最，傳承已有2500多年。“翡翠珠被，爛齊光兮”，“被文服纖，麗而不奇兮”，這是屈原《楚辭·招魂》中為我們描繪的古漢繡圖景。如今，在與世界的文化交流中，漢繡正展露新顏，成為講述中國故事的重要承載。

王子怡，中國漢繡代表性傳承人，是古老漢繡的當代創作者之一。她自幼隨父輩學習湘繡、蘇繡，自上世紀八十年代專攻漢繡以來，三十余年針耕不斷，佳作連連，其漢繡作品具有很高藝術價值。

2018年6月，一位法國客人不遠萬里從里昂趕到武漢，多方找尋漢繡大師，只為親身感受中國漢繡之美。這位客人是法國香奈兒設計師——瑪麗蓮娜·伊哈爾。伊哈爾生長于歐洲絲綢之城——法國里昂，出身刺繡之家，其母是刺繡藝術師，其父是絲綢工作者。得益于刺繡藝術環境的浸潤，伊哈爾從小喜歡跟著媽媽飛針走線，成長為一名刺繡高手，對刺繡的內涵有著深刻的領悟。成為香奈兒設計師后，伊哈爾更從絲綢之中探索美和女人的秘密，從“繡”中感受女人的韻味和柔性，為她的設計和創作提供了不少靈感。

一次偶然機會，伊哈爾在網上瀏覽到中國漢繡作品，受到強烈的藝術沖擊。她立馬放下手中的工作，即刻飛往中國武漢——一股漢繡之風正悄然興起的城市，尋找中國刺繡大咖。通過多方尋訪，伊哈爾終于見到漢繡傳承代表之一的王子怡，一頭扎進漢繡之中。她住在王子怡家，王子怡除了給她介紹漢繡作品，還給她講了很多從事漢繡的心得體會。

王子怡與美國師生合影留念Wang Ziyi and the high school students and teachers when she had a cultural exchange in the United States

漢繡木制書架筆筒 A wooden bookshelf and pen container with Han embroidery

One day Eyral happened to come upon several pieces of works of Han embroidery online, which fascinated her a lot. She immediately put down her work and decided to fly to Wuhan, China, the city where Han embroidery was born and is now experiencing its renaissance.All of what she hoped was to find and see a top master of authentic Han embroidery. With the help of local governments, Eyral finally met with Wang Ziyi, one of the inheritors of Han embroidery. She was then invited to Wang Ziyi’s home and lived with her there.Soon Wang Ziyi introduced works of Han embroidery to Eyral and shared with her the experience of practicing Han embroidery.

As artists, they have something in common in the field of embroidery despite their language barrier. The aesthetic concepts of Han embroidery and French embroidery are quite similar. Both styles emphasize the romantic element and decorative function. In addition,the two different styles often have parallels in design, modeling,stitching, and materials. While discussing the differences between French embroidery and Han embroidery, Wang Ziyi showed Eyral the characteristic stitching skills of Han embroidery, which were quickly understood by Eyral. Eyral also mentioned that the ancient Chinese Silk Road brought silk materials and products to France,and even today the French silk industry benefits from old Chinese techniques and skills.

The 7-day visit came to an end so soon that both embroiderers were reluctant to part. Full of emotion Eyral said that she was looking forward to her next visit to Wuhan. Meanwhile, she invited Wang Ziyi to launch her Han embroidery arts and crafts exhibition in Lyon Museum,France.

Before meeting with Eyral,Wang Ziyi had visited Germany,Sweden, New Zealand, and other countries exhibiting her fine works of Han embroidery. At the beginning of this year, she went to 13 middle schools in the United States to showcase and teach Han embroidery. Now she hopes to visit France and have further discussions on embroidery with Eyral.

伊哈爾與王子怡討論漢繡針法Marylene Eyral and Wang Ziyi discussing embroidery stitching

王子怡漢繡代表作《東方神鳥》獲中國第四屆手工藝創意設計金獎Oriental Birds, one of Wang Ziyi’s representative works, won the Gold Award of the 4th Creative Design of Handicraft in China.

藝術家之間總能找到溝通的橋梁。盡管語言不通，伊哈爾與王子怡在刺繡中找到了共通的藝術語言。漢繡與法繡的審美理念有相同之處，都是浪漫的裝飾刺繡藝術。此外，二者在設計造型、針法和材料上也有相互借鑒之處。她們交流法繡和漢繡的不同，王子怡給伊哈爾演示了自己擅長的“平金夾繡”和“盤金彩繡”針法，伊哈爾領悟很快。伊哈爾說，中國古代絲綢之路為法國帶去了絲綢，法國絲綢制造至今仍沿用著中國技術。

一晃眼，一周就過去。伊哈爾表示會再來武漢，進行交流探討，同時，她邀請王子怡將漢繡帶到法國里昂博物館展示交流。

之前，王子怡曾帶著自己的作品，去過德國、瑞典、新西蘭等國交流，今年年初還去了美國13所中學，進行漢繡教學展示。她期待去法國，與伊哈爾進行進一步探討。