Miao
Miao Chinese Fertility Festival Coat with Batik Designs
Miao, 1939-1969
Scroll
Miao
Miao Chinese Fertility Festival Coat with Batik Designs
Miao, 1939-1969
Physical Qualities
Indigo-dyed cotton with resist decoration, 48 1/2 x 64 in. (123.2 x 162.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Straton Family Fund
Object Number
2006.102
FESTIVAL COAT
Miao Chinese Fertility Festival Coat with Indigo Batik Designs
Mid-20th century
China, Guizhou Province, Congjiang or Rongjiang
Cotton
Straton Family Fund,
BMA 2006.102
Fantastic in its ornament and use, this coat was worn by a member of China’s minority Miao people during fertility festivals held every 13 years on Moon Mountain in southeastern Guizhou province. The figures depicted across both front and back of the coat represent Miao in gala dress as for a festival, wedding, or funeral. The insects adorning the coat include Mother Butterfly, who, according to Miao belief, was the ancestor of all beings on earth, and the centipede, interpreted as the Miao dragon. In Miao folklore, the centipede is credited with overseeing farms, setting up households, and insuring rich and happy grandchildren, while the dragon preserves peace and delivers favorable weather for crops. Birds and fish on the back of this coat represent the male and female genders, together symbolizing couples in love.
Traditionally, Miao women create these extraordinary designs without the aid of pre-conceived patterns using batik, a process that involves first drawing on the cloth with hot melted wax, then dipping it into a dye bath of indigo.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2006; Giles Kotcher Antique Costume and Textiles, Somerville, Massachusetts broker for collector Jeff Spurr (See curator's notes). Spurr purchased the coat about five years previous (c. 2001) from a dealer in Shanghai.
Curator's Choice Rotation
Corrigan, Gina, Miao Textiles from China, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001, pp. 72-73.
Lu, Pu, Designs of Chinese Indigo Batik, New York: Lee Publishers, 1981.
Pourret, Jess, The Yao: The Mien and Mun Yao in China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, Art Media Resources, 2002.
Torimaru, Sadae, Imprints on Cloth: 18 Years of Field Research Among the Miao People, Japan: Akishige Tada Publishing, 2004.
Campbell, Margaret, et al., From the Hands of the Hills, Media Transasia, 1978, p. 131.
Cultural Palace of Nationalities, ed., Clothing and Ornaments of China's Miao People, Beijing: Nationality Press, 1985, pp. 4-7, p. 74, p. 80, pp. 82-83, pp. 130-135.
Miao Textile Design, Taipei: Fu Jen Catholic University Press, Ltd., 1993.
O'Connor, Deryn, Miao Costumes for Guizhou Province South West China, Farnham, Surrey: James Hockney Press, 1994.
Sandberg, Gosta, Indigo Textiles: Technique and History, London: A&C Black Publishers, Ltd., 1989, P. 35, pp. 79-83, ill. p. 83.
Balfour-Paul, Jenny, Indigo, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998, ill.p. 149, p. 153, ill.p. 198, ill. p. 199.
Bai, Z., A Happy People: The Miao. Translated by R. Jiazhen. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1988.
Lin, Yaohua, Richly Woven Traditions: Costumes of the Miao of Southwest China and Beyond, New York: China Institute of America, 1987.
Lu, Pu, Designs of Chinese Indigo Batik, New York: Lee Publishers, 1981.
Pourret, Jess, The Yao: The Mien and Mun Yao in China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, Art Media Resources, 2002.
Torimaru, Sadae, Imprints on Cloth: 18 Years of Field Research Among the Miao People, Japan: Akishige Tada Publishing, 2004.
Campbell, Margaret, et al., From the Hands of the Hills, Media Transasia, 1978, p. 131.
Cultural Palace of Nationalities, ed., Clothing and Ornaments of China's Miao People, Beijing: Nationality Press, 1985, pp. 4-7, p. 74, p. 80, pp. 82-83, pp. 130-135.
Miao Textile Design, Taipei: Fu Jen Catholic University Press, Ltd., 1993.
O'Connor, Deryn, Miao Costumes for Guizhou Province South West China, Farnham, Surrey: James Hockney Press, 1994.
Sandberg, Gosta, Indigo Textiles: Technique and History, London: A&C Black Publishers, Ltd., 1989, P. 35, pp. 79-83, ill. p. 83.
Balfour-Paul, Jenny, Indigo, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998, ill.p. 149, p. 153, ill.p. 198, ill. p. 199.
Bai, Z., A Happy People: The Miao. Translated by R. Jiazhen. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1988.
Lin, Yaohua, Richly Woven Traditions: Costumes of the Miao of Southwest China and Beyond, New York: China Institute of America, 1987.
