Silver Jewelry and Embroidery by the Naxi, Bai and Miao People of China

Tibetan Buddhist Jewelry and Clothing

January 24 to October 5

In May 2007, MSAC director and curator Judith Nasby traveled to Chongqing, China to lecture on Canadian Inuit art as part of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute’s first international symposium on Aboriginal art in China and Canada. The symposium was held in conjunction with the launch of the touring exhibition, titled Aboriginal Works from Juxian, Jinshan and Qijiang / Contemporary Canadian Inuit Drawings, a collaborative project by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre and the Chongqing Art Museum. At the conclusion of the symposium, Nasby traveled in Yunnan and Gansu Provinces, collecting extraordinary examples of jewelry and embroidery by the Naxi, Bai and Miao people and by Tibetan Buddhists. The sale of traditional hand-made silver jewelry and embroidered clothing, in favour of new machine-made articles, has resulted in the availability of objects of tremendous cultural and historic importance.

The Naxi have lived in concentrated communities in the Naxi Autonomous County of Lijiang, Yunnan Province, South West China for 1,000 years. Naxi society is largely matriarchic, and the women wear traditional dress in recognition of their roles and identity within the community. The exhibition features Naxi scripts inscribed with traditional Dongba pictographs, as well as embroidery with dragon and phoenix imagery intended to bring luck to its wearer.

The Bai have lived in the rugged, but fertile, mountains of the Cangshan-Erhai Lake (Yunnan Province) for more than 4,000 years. Bai women are excellent embroiderers, combining innumerable stitching techniques with batik and tie-dye using cording, gold and silver bands, and three-dimensional appliqué.

The Bai are known for heavily embroidered baby hats and carriers, called guobei, and remarkable silver necklaces depicting animals and anthropomorphic subjects.

The Miao live primarily in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Hubei, and can trace their ancestry to the twenty-fifth century B.C. Women’s headdresses have special importance in Miao culture, and depict animistic decoration in accordance with traditional Miao religion.

The Labrang Monastery in Xiahe, Gansu Province, is the second largest Tibetan monastery in the world. It is an important pilgrimage site and centre for learning. Today, the monastery houses 1,700 monks. Buddhist liturgical vestments and regalia worn by pilgrims, that feature corral and brass beads, shells, amber, turquoise, cloissone, and even silver coins, can be readily purchased in shops on the main street of Xiahe.

Brown Bag Lunch:
with exhibition curator Judith Nasby
Tuesday, February 26 at noon

Image:
Bai women sell objects of their cultural heritage at the farmer’s market in Shaping.