Suzhou Embroidery 苏绣

时间：2006年
Time: 2006
类别：民间美术
Category: Folk Art
地区：江苏
Region: Jiangsu Province
编号：Ⅶ-18
Ref. No.: VII-18
申报地区或单位：江苏省苏州市
Nominating unit[s]: Suzhou city, Jiangsu Province
苏绣为苏州刺绣之简称，它以产生之地命名，历史上曾广泛存在于苏州城乡。近十年来苏绣行业逐渐萎缩，现主要集中于苏州市区和高新区东渚镇、镇湖街道一带。
Suzhou embroidery, or Su embroidery for short, was named after its' place of origin, historically very popular in the urban and rural areas of Suzhou. In the past decade, the Suzhou embroidery trade has been on a gradual decline, with the result that its current production areas are mainly concentrated in the urban areas of Suzhou and around Dongzhu Town and the Zhenhu neighborhood of Suzhou National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone.
苏绣技艺的起源不详。现存的宋代以来苏绣实物显示了不同历史时期苏绣技艺的发展状况和实际水平，如元代苏绣残片表明，当时已有一件作品运用9种刺绣针法；明代绣品多采用文人画稿，开始形成精细雅洁的独特风格；清代苏绣成为行业，商品绣极为发达，苏州因此有"绣市"之称。道光年间，苏州女子丁佩总结刺绣技艺，完成了中国第一部刺绣专业著作《绣谱》；清末民初，苏绣名家沈寿创"仿真绣"，晚年口述《雪宦绣谱》，总结刺绣经验；20世纪30年代，苏绣名家杨守玉创"乱针绣"，丰富和扩展了苏绣的题材与内涵；20世纪50年代，苏州刺绣研究所建立，聚集、培养了大批苏绣人才，她们在继承传统绣法的基础上研究和创制了多种绣法与针法，使苏绣技艺不断发展和提高。
The origin of Suzhou embroidery techniques is unknown. Some Suzhou embroidery pieces in existence date back until after the Song Dynasty, and reflect the development of this craft and its' popularity in different historical periods. For example, the relics of a Suzhou embroidery style made in the Yuan Dynasty indicate that 9 embroidering stitches were applied in one piece. Embroideries in the Ming Dynasty mainly are based on literati paintings, forming a unique style of fineness, elegance and conciseness. Suzhou embroidery industry took a new shape in the Qing Dynasty, with embroidery business booming. For this reason, Suzhou was known as the "Embroidery City". During the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty, Ding Pei, a female native of Suzhou, composed Embroidery Techniques (or Xiu Pu), the first embroidery-related monograph in China, describing embroidery techniques. In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, Shen Shou, a Suzhou embroidery master, developed the "emulational embroidery" technique and dictated the Principles and Stitchings of Chinese Embroidery (or Xue Huan Xiu Pu), an account of her experience and expertise in embroidery. In the 1930s, Yang Shouyu, a master artisan in Suzhou embroidery, wrote the text "random stitch embroidery", which enriched and expanded the themes and connotation of Suzhou embroidery. In the 1950s, the Suzhou Embroidery Institute was established, which gathered and fostered a large number of Suzhou embroidery-related talents, who have studied and created many an embroidering method and needling technique and promoted the continuous development and improvement of this craft.
自明代以来，苏绣大师辈出，流派纷呈，目前尚有确切传人并有影响的苏绣可分为三大谱系，
Since the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Suzhou embroidery masters emerged, giving rise to many branches. Currently, there are three influential types of Suzhou embroidery with certain successor:
一是传统细绣，二是沈寿所创的"仿真绣"，三是杨守玉所创的"乱针绣"。这三大谱系的技艺都有着丰富而多变的适应性，完整而系统的技艺法理，具有传统的书画品味和浓厚的地方色彩。
The first is the traditional embroidery, the second the "emulational embroidery" developed by Shen Shou and the third the "random stitch embroidery" by Yang Shouyu. Skills of these three categories are characterized by a rich and varied adaptability, completeness and systematicness, sharing the elements of paintings and calligraphy, and retaining pronounced local features.
苏绣一直是苏州地区最具代表性的工艺美术，对工艺美术史、民俗学和女性学等学科的研究具有重要价值。但随着现代商品经济和科学技术的发展，电脑绣花技术得到普遍应用，在此情势下苏绣的生存空间日益缩小，拥有高超技艺的苏绣传承人和高品质的苏绣艺术品越来越少，苏绣正面临着有序传承的危机，亟待抢救、保护。
As the most representative folk art in Suzhou, Suzhou embroidery is of great significance in the study of the history of arts and crafts, folklore, women and other subjects. Nevertheless, along with the development of the modern commodity-based economy and science and technology, computer-aided embroidery technique has become widely popular. As such, Suzhou embroidery has a shrinking market share. Moreover, a dro has been seen in the number of either skilled Suzhou embroidery successors or high-quality Suzhou embroidery articles. In this sense, Suzhou embroidery is now endangered, and protective measures against the extinction of this craft are urgently required.