Exhibition place：conservation gallery

Exhibition time：2017.9 - 2017.11

Sponsor: China National Silk Museum
     Wuxi Cultural Heritage Protection and Archaeological Institute

Location: Textile Conservation Gallery, China National Silk Museum

ExhibitionTime: Sep. 8, 2017 – Nov. 19, 2017

In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, the Qian clan lived in Wuxi in the basin of the Taihu Lake. The Qian clan was distinguished in Wuxi. Their ancestral home was in Lin’an, Zhejiang. They were the descendants of Qian Liu, King Wusu of the State Wuyue. In the Song Dynasty, they migrated from Jiaxing to Wuxi.

From 1997 to 2000, eight tombs of the Qian clan in the Ming Dynasty were successively found when the No.2 Brick and Tile Factory digging out earth in Hongsheng Town, Wuxi. In 2012, when surveying an expropriated plot, Wuxi Cultural Heritage Protection and Archaeological Institute (WCHPAI) discovered a joint burial tomb of Qian Zhang and his wife in the graveyard of the Qian clan. The tomb is located on a height of about several thousand square metres at Gujiaqiao, Qifangqiao Village, Hongshan Town, about 20 km east of Wuxi. Qian Zhang was the 20th generation grandson of Qian Liu, and his wife was from the Hua clan.

In 2014, WCHPAI commissioned China National Silk Museum to conserve and restore the Ming Dynasty costumes unearthed from the joint burial tomb of Qian couple, making this exhibition possible. These costumes, though not as luxurious as imperial ones, are typical costumes of the Ming Dynasty, varying in type and material. Though most of the colours had already faded, the styles and designs clearly remain, and the gold ornaments on the costumes are gorgeous. All the elements demonstrate the characteristics of the costumes worn by the distinguished families at that time, such as the Qian clan. Meanwhile, the exhibition presents the process of restoring Qian couple’s costumes.