The Material Life of a Jiangyi (Taoist Priest Vestment) 18th c. to the Present

Authors

Lucinda Pelton, Art Institute of Chicago

Date of this Version

2024

Document Type

Presentation

Citation

Textile Society of America 2024 Symposium

Shifts & Strands: Rethinking the Possibilities and Potentials of Textiles, November 12-17, 2024, a virtual event

Comments

Published by the Textiles Society of America

Copyright 2024, the author. Used by permission

Abstract

This presentation is an in-depth examination of an 18th century Taoist jiangyi from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. It will begin with an explanation of how this garment functioned in Taoist practice, including the many spiritual motifs depicted on its surface. The presentation will then discuss the materials and techniques that make up the textile itself: coarse ramie lining, shell of orange-red silk, border of dark blue silk, and edging of white cotton. Its heavy embellishment includes gilded paper, textured silk threads, and threads made of peacock feathers, worked in a variety of techniques such as embroidery and most significantly a form of proto-lacemaking known as needle looping––distinguishing this textile as a stunning example of only a handful of extant jiangyi embellished with this technique. Peeking out from underneath the ornamentation is paper with design sketches and written characters, signs of the process of making this technically masterful garment.

Although the materials and techniques are rich and precisely executed, there are signs of age, wear, and intervention that remind us this garment has been modified by human hands repeatedly. The presentation will go on to discuss the ways this textile was altered since it was created and the possibilities of why the distinct alterations took place. This will touch on ideas of reuse and the recycling of damaged textiles, marketability to a foreign audience, improvement of visual appeal, and structural support in hopes of preservation, as this textile transitioned from ornate spiritual uniform to museum object.