tribaltextiles.info

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Hmong Home In China



Email to me: wu-zhh@hotmail.com

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Hmong Home In China



Email to me: wu-zhh@hotmail.com

Could you please tell me why there are two ritual garments in such a small Yi group and in such a small area? They seem to be distinctly different. Are they from different periods? Your information seems to come from the book Writing with Thread where there are two similar samples, is this where you got your information? They claim the brown checked ground example is late 19th century and the indigo ground example is early 20th century. Can you or anyone else verify any of the above information for me? I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Could you please tell me why there are two ritual garments in such a small Yi group and in such a small area? They seem to be distinctly different. Are they from different periods? Your information seems to come from the book Writing with Thread where there are two similar samples, is this where you got your information? They claim the brown checked ground example is late 19th century and the indigo ground example is early 20th century. Can you or anyone else verify any of the above information for me? I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Hi Rachel

Good to hear from you after a long gap. Hope all is well with you?

I have always had a soft spot for Yi patchwork garments probably because my eye is initially attracted to them as a former patchworker/quilter. I agree with you that there seems to be a big difference in the two styles shown on this thread although the cut of the garments has similarity.

It has been said to me by a dealer friend who travels to Yunnan regularly that, at the moment, several of these ritual style garments have suddenly surfaced on the market (particularly the patchwork style first shown) - somewhat surprising as they have been very rare - causing alarm bells to ring! They seem to be authentic in their general make-up. Genuine old dark indigo cloth, hand stitched, old silk applique patches with sufficient wear and tear apparent. They might well be commissioned in the places they originate from thereby having all the requisite characteristics. The recent ones he has seen have been offered at a fraction of the former market price.

This does not address your question of the difference in styles but I felt that I must pass on the word of warning in case anyone looking at the thread is consumed with a collecting zeal! I am not suggesting that there is anything questionable about those shown on this thread. Indeed, I think they are not part of a sales pitch. If I had found them for sale I would have swiftly moved them to the 'Tribal textile shopping' section of the forum.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Hi Pamela,

I am still here in Cayman just busier with my jewelry line but still traveling to SE Asia and collecting textiles. Is there anyway you could contact your dealer friend and see if he could shed some light on why the two styles are so different and when exactly they started appearing more regularly. Writing with Threads shows pictures of both examples yet they offer no explanation as to why they are so different. Are both styles used during the same ceremony and express different aspects of the ceremony? I have looked in other literature for other photographs of the checked brown style but so far have had no luck. Do you have any ideas? It seems odd that no one is able to give any concrete information regarding these pieces when they come from such a small area and small Yi sub group. I have tried contacting Gao Xiang and SungYi Wu at the Yunnan Nationalities Museum but have had no luck so far although I am not even sure they are both still at the museum as it has been a couple of years since I was there. Thanks again for all your help. It's good to be back.

Rachel

The difficulty with the "Yi" classification used in China is that it includes several groups that are not actually that closely related. Some of these groups are also on the Vietnam side of the border and are classified differently (eg various types of Lolo people). The best source of information that I know of is Michael Howard's book "Textiles of the Highland People of Northern Vietnam" (White Lotus, Bangkok). This accounts (I think) for the very wide range of textiles and other things from "Yi" people that don't seem very closely related. Some of the Yi groups seem to be Tibeto-Burman, with similar clothing, masks and so on to those groups.

I had never seen a brown checked cape before, but curiously someone sent me a photo asking for comments on one of these a couple of weeks ago. It looked very similar to the one in the photo. I have not had the opportunity to see one up close however.

Without making any remarks on the items posted here, I echo Pamela's cautions generally. Good items are in short supply and many pieces are being assembled from fragments, reworked from less saleable items (eg skirts) or made up from scratch.

Thanks Chris for the suggestion although unfortunately I do not have a copy of that particular book here on Island. Since the only picture and information I have seen so far is in Writing with Threads and they said it was from Yunnan I didn't even consider that it might be from somewhere else. Thanks for your help.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Black and white image:
Page 77 Figure 6.3 Group of White Lolo, (From Bonifacy 1907: plate 21, fig.1) from "Textiles of the Highland Peoples of Northern Vietnam: Mon-Khmer, Hmong-Mien, and Tibeto-Burman" by Michael C. Howard & Kim Be Howard published by White Lotus, Bangkok 2002 ISBN 974-4800-13-5. [Bonifacy, Auguste. Les Groupes Ethniques du Bassin de la Rivière Claire (Haute Tonkin & Chine Méridionale. Paris: Extrait des Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropolie de Paris, 1906.]

Colour image from the section on Yi which starts on page 365:
Page 386 Woman's ensemble, Funing County, Yunnan Early-mid 20th century. From "Writing with Thread: Traditional textiles of southwest Chinese minorities" published in 2009 by University of Hawai'i Art Gallery, Department of Art & Art History, ISBN 9780982033210.

On the previous pages 284/5 is shown somewhat similar - but different - Woman's ensemble, Malipo County, Yunnan Early-mid 20th century.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Thanks Pamela for posting the pictures and text from Howard's book, both have been helpful. Wu-Zhh I was wondering since you originally posted the two types of Yi ritual garments do you have any information which you might have received from the people you purchased them from which might help answer my questions? Since Kali has been the center of the textile trade for awhile now is there any other dealer you know who might be able to help us out? Would Eric Boudot be able to provide us with some insight and answers? Thanks in advance Wu-Zhh for all your help.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource