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Chinese Beadwork Research

For years I was advised by many people that “there is no beadwork in China.” Since I grew up in a house filled with modest examples of Chinese decorative art worked in materials including cinnabar, jade, mother-of-pearl, cloissone, porcelain, rosewood, soapstone, bamboo and silk, I found it hard to believe that the Chinese had never worked in beads.

A fair amount was already known about Peranakan or Straits Chinese beadwork of Malaysia and Indonesia, but nothing had been written about mainland Chinese beadwork, and the museums I checked with had few or no examples.

In 1997 I began going to China to look for evidence of beadwork. I began finding it right away. Eventually I began finding contemporary Chinese beadworkers too. My goal is to document as many examples, and learn about the lives of as many contemporary beadworkers, as possible.

For the last several years I have been working with several translators of classical and contemporary Chinese to have various beadwork-related texts translated into English. Progress is slow but significant, and will continue for some time. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my translators Jeff Keller, Lei Xue, and Grace Chen McClone, who have contributed so much to my understanding of Chinese culture, Chinese art, and Chinese beadwork.

I would also like to thank the organizations that have provided me with research grants: the Portland Bead Society, the Northwest Bead Society, and the Bead Study Trust. Their support and encouragement continues to mean a great deal to me, and I hope my future publications on Chinese beadwork will be worthy of their confidence.

I am especially interested in pieces of Chinese beadwork that bear inscriptions written in Chinese characters, in western Arabic numerals, or in the Latin alphabet, because such inscriptions illuminate fundamental Chinese attitudes and assumptions and attest to shifts in Chinese society over time.

On this page are images from my presentation “Respect and Cherish Written Words: Interpreting Inscriptions in Mainland Chinese Beadwork from the Ming Dynasty to the Present Day.”

I gave this presentation at a conference in Istanbul on November 24, 2007, and at the Fortnightly Club of Chicago, at the invitation of the Community Associates of the Art Institute of Chicago, on April 9, 2008 .

Valerie Hector

Below are several images from Valerie’s slide lecture: “Respect and Cherish Written Words: Interpreting Inscriptions in Mainland Chinese Beadwork from the Ming Dynasty to the Present Day”

RIGHT: Red silk and cotton table
frontal, ca. 1885-1900, embroidered with European glass beads.
App. 35” x 33”.

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector.
All rights reserved.

PHOTO: Larry Sanders, Visual Images

ABOVE: Details of red silk table frontal, with stylized seal script characters reading (from left to right) yan nian yi shou (“extending years, adding ages”), fu gui ji xiang ( “wealth, honor, harmony, luck”), and yi shou da kao (“increasing age, long life”).

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector. All rights reserved. PHOTO: Larry Sanders, Visual Images

 

RIGHT: Three of a set of eight
small beaded screen panels, ca. 1910. The panel at the right, inscribed with 6 characters written in what could be interpreted as stylized clerical script, reads da qing Xuan Tong san nian (“great Qing, Xuan Tong, third year”). 16 ¼” x 6 ¼” each.

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector.
All rights reserved.

 

LEFT: Detail of a beaded baby carrier with two four-character inscriptions, first half of the 20th century. The four seal script characters (shown in black on a yellow ground) read he gui cheng rui (“river turtle brings good fortune”) and the four standard script characters (shown in black on a blue ground) read chu ru ping an (“inside, outside, peace, peace”). The standard script character at the center of the panel reads yue (“moon”). Area of detail: approx. 9” x 9”.

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector.
All rights reserved.

PHOTO: Larry Sanders, Visual Images

 

RIGHT: Bead-embroidered slipper panels bearing what are (probably) commercial product names or logos, first half of the 20th century.

Top panel: 8 1/8” w. x 2 ½” h.

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector.
All rights reserved.

PHOTO: Larry Sanders
Visual Image

 

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector.
All rights reserved.

Photo: Larry Sanders,
Visual Images

 

RIGHT: Plastic bead necktie, worked in right angle weave and inscribed in standard script and western Arabic numerals that read xiang gang (“Hong Kong”) and 1997 7.1 (the date on which Hong Kong reverted to mainland China). App. 4” wide.

Photo © copyright Valerie Hector.
All rights reserved.

Photo: Larry Sanders,
Visual Images

 

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