Stitching up history

Stitching up history

Beauty is probably the reason that has kept them sitting in front of exquisite centuries-old woven pieces and forgetting the flow of time.

Qu Tingting has worked in the textile conservation studio of the Palace Museum in Beijing since 2013. Doing the needlework on ancient Chinese embroidery, silk pieces and other types of textiles, Qu says she does not have even one moment of boredom. With fashion designing as her major in college, Qu says that being a doctor curing the ancient textiles is an ideal choice.

No matter how sparkling these textiles were when they first came to the Forbidden City, they were dusty when they were handed to conservators later. Using a specially designed " miniature vacuum cleaner" , an area up to the size of a hand can be cleaned a day. These relics deserve the utmost caution as textiles are one of the most fragile cultural relics in the museum.

Royal garments and Peking Opera costumes are the signature relics in this category, but textiles were almost ubiquitous in the former imperial palace and used to make windows, paintings, folding fans, cushions, pillows, bedsheets, valances, and other interior decorations. The artisans were generous in demonstrating their creativity by weaving auspicious patterns in corners of the imperial palace.

Consequently, following the renovation of the palatial architecture, more textile relics were sent to the conservation studio. For example, in the ongoing renovation of the Hall of Mental Cultivation - the last eight Qing emperors' residence - conservators have new tasks: the daily-use articles were moved from that hall to the studio.