A World of Silks: Collections of Global Silk Art

This exhibition will introduce various types of silk produced or used around the world according to regions. These include several major categories such as weaving, printing and dyeing, embroidery, etc., all or part of which use silk materials. Some of the exhibits date back as far as the 8th century, but most of the exhibits are concentrated within the last two centuries. We have received strong support from institutions like the National Tokyo Museum in Japan, the National Gugung Museum in Korea, the Russian State Museum of Oriental Art, the Padua Entomological Museum in Italy, and the Textile Museum of Oaxaca in Mexico, combined with our museum's recently acquired collections. We have planned this exhibition hoping that people from all over the world can gain a better understanding of the Silk Road and appreciate silk art through this exhibition.
The main exhibits in this exhibition consist of 73 pieces of traditional clothing and textiles from the 17th to 20th centuries, collected by the China National Silk Museum. These items originate from Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Among them is one second-class cultural relic and 20 third-class cultural relics. The exhibits include: a two-tone warp fabric with mythological figures on a yellow ground from early 17th-century Italy; a Baroque-style red-ground lace floral-patterned brocade from the 1720s in France; a floral and architectural-patterned brocade from the 1730s in France; a Rococo-style blue-ground floral-patterned brocade from the 1760s in France; an embroidered robe worn by European clergy in the 18th century; an embroidered ceremonial dress for Turkish women from the 1780s; an American quilt from the 1880s; a ceremonial ship cloth from Sumatra, Indonesia, used in rituals during the 19th century; a Cambodian Buddhist story ikat ceremonial hanging from the early 20th century; and Moroccan grape leaf embroidery.