Makers › Master Craftsmen
Han Ximeng
Late Ming embroiderer of the Gu family of Shanghai who stitched copies of Song and Yuan paintings
A craft workshop centres on a potter's wheel holding a tall celadon vase, amid racks of red lacquer boxes, an embroidery frame with a floral design, shelves of celadon ware, carved wooden panels and stacked logs, while one craftsman works at a table and another stands at a glowing kiln.
Also known as Hao Wuling Xiushi · Han Yuan
- Roles
- Master Craftsmen
Han Ximeng, who called herself the Embroidery Historian of Wuling, married Gu Shouqian, grandson of Gu Mingshi of Shanghai, whose family garden gave its name to Gu embroidery. Her own pieces came to be called Lady Han's embroidery. She understood the principles of painting and copied old pictures in silk thread so closely that landscapes, flowers and figures look painted. In 1634 she finished an eight-leaf album of famous Song and Yuan works, each leaf stamped with a seal for Lady Han's needlework, which Dong Qichang praised; it is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. An album of flowers, insects and fish dated 1641 is in the Shanghai History Museum.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the Chongzhen era (dated works 1634-1641)