Chinese textile handicrafts can be divided into three types, translated as "embroidery," "brocade," and "tapestry". Among these, embroidery is usually done by hand with needles while brocade and tapestry are produced on a loom.
Chinese tapestry incorporates elements of both embroidery and brocade, so it can be considered a melding of the two.
Oriental brocade is a rich silk satin decorated with gold and silver threads.
In tapestry weave, the weft threads are brought over and under the warp threads only in the limited area of each separate color, so small shuttles are used, and if an area is too small for a shuttle then a needle is used and embroidery stitches are employed to cover that small area.
In order to complete one tapestry work, it is often necessary to use a few thousand small shuttles. It may also be necessary to spend up to a few years working on it.
The National Palace Museum has over 100 tapestries in its collection. Among these are seventy from the Sung dynasty, three from the Yuan dynasty and thirty-two from the Ming dynasty. Those from the Ching dynasty or of undeterminable origin number seventy.
Tapestry work was temporarily stopped during the Yuan dynasty which explains the small number of pieces from that period. Weavers started making tapestry again in the Ming dynasty.
The tapestry "Geese by the River during Springtime" is 106.7 cm long and 45.8 cm wide. Every inch contains approximately 100 warp threads and 300 weft threads.
Sometimes colored pens were used to enhance the color. In this picture it can be seen that the weeds, pine trees and needles, and water plants have been so enhanced.
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