High-end Handcrafted Intertwined Vines Pattern Chinese Zhuang Brocade Silk Cloth Scarf Tea Table Cloth

What's Zhuang Brocade 壮锦？

The Zhuang people have a very ancient history, having lived for generations in parts of Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hunan in southwestern China. Zhuang brocade, also known as "Zhuang brocade" or "velvet quilt," is relatively thick and is considered one of China's four famous brocades, a treasure of Guangxi's ethnic culture.

Zhuang brocade is an art form skillfully woven on a hand-operated loom equipped with a support system, transmission device, heddle system, and jacquard weaving device. It uses cotton yarn as warp and various colored silk velvets as weft, employing a technique of continuous warp and discontinuous weft weaving.

The traditional patterns mainly include more than 20 types such as two dragons playing with a pearl, meander pattern, water pattern, cloud pattern, flowers, and animals. More than 80 new patterns such as "Guilin landscape" and "national unity" have also emerged, which are rich in national style.

Wanshou Pattern 

Pattern Origin: This pattern is one of many designs found in Zhuang brocade artifacts unearthed from an ancient tomb by an archaeological team in 1978. The auspicious motifs of "Fu" (福, fortune), "Lu" (禄, prosperity), and "Shou" (寿, longevity) are extremely common and beloved themes. The composition is a two-dimensional continuous representation method commonly used in Zhuang brocade, connecting individual geometric patterns to form composite geometric shapes. The resulting wide brocade character patterns are clear, fast, and neatly arranged.

Floral Tree Pattern

The floral tree pattern circled in green in the image above originates from the Zhuang people's worship of flower totems. The Zhuang ancestor, Miloja, was a goddess born from among flowers. The "Flower Goddess," also known as the "Flower King Holy Mother," is a powerful deity who governs human reproduction. Why did the Zhuang people choose "flower" as their totem? When gathering wild fruits, the Zhuang ancestors discovered that plant fruits originate from flowers. Without flowering, plants would not bear fruit. The reason why flowers turn into fruit after withering is also a mystery. Therefore, they believed that flowers are the source of all things, and that humans also came from flowers. Thus, the worship of flowers is a symbol of the Zhuang ancestors' worship of motherhood, or rather, fertility.

Two sides available to use/wear

Warp preparation → warping → reed threading → combing and winding warp → loom setup → separating small heddles → separating large heddles/threading jacquard heddles → reed threading → weaving the selvage → picking patterns and knotting the base → feeding the warp and opening the weft opening → picking patterns (color matching) → shuttle running → weft insertion.

A traditional colored Zhuang brocade with a width of 50cm and a length of 180cm, of moderate difficulty, takes about 160 hours to complete. The weaving time for Zhuang brocade of medium difficulty is doubled, and the time for Zhuang brocade with multiple colors is even longer.

Material: 50% silke ,50% cotton

Size: 180cm, 40cm( it can be a bit varied one from one)

Maintenance: Please wash it by hand with silk detergent. The silk is very precious, and please pay attention while using avoid snagging. 

Reminder: as it's 100% handmade by hand-operated loom, the patterns are very varied, for the big pattern, the cloth can be so substantial like machine make.