Living In Silk – Nottingham Castle

The Living in Silk exhibition combines artefacts from the collection of the China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou, with Unravelled, a companion display drawn from Nottingham City Museums and Galleries’ own collection of Chinese textiles.

               ——- Nottingham Collection: Women’s Jacket, 1875 to 1900, China —–

The silk damask jacket features chrysanthemum and peony flowers, alongside butterflies and bats.

The fancy braid on the garment was added at a later date, when this became fashionable.

            — Nottingham Collection: Han Women’s Collar, 1850 to 1880, China —

In the 1800s, collars such as this were made at home by women, as a way of showcasing their embroidery.

Here white satin is embroidered with butterflies, birds and flowers. The central panel features a deer, which symbolises long life. Deer were given this status as they were said to be the only animal able to find the sacred plant of immortality.

     — Nottingham Collection: Silver Pheasants for Rank Badges, 1890 to 1910, China —

 Rank badges were worn by men in the chinese civil service and military. Each category had nine ranks. The civil service used bird to identify someone’s position, while the military used real and mythological animals.The silver pheasant was fourth highest rank that could be achieved.

                    Mandarin gown,embroidery Qing dynasty(18th-19th century, AD)

                                    China  National Silk Museum, Hangzhou 

(the exhition did not allow to take photos,

* all sources from: http://www.dresstheworld.co.uk/nottingham/media/42537 )