江南刺繡：絲綢上的藝術絕技

曉柒

翻開中國刺繡的編年史，江南民間刺繡，無疑是其中最重要的一頁。

清道光年間，寓居無錫的刺繡名家丁佩在《繡譜》里說：“刺繡以針代筆，以絹素為紙，以絲線為朱墨、鉛黃。 ”“取材極約、而用甚廣”，為“閨閣中之翰墨。 ”

江南民間刺繡的魂就在其精、細和美。精微繡體現了這種極致的精細美。與通常雙面繡相比，技術要求更高，難度更大，在用針用線用料用色上更加嚴謹講究，尤其在繡刺細部時，須將一根絲線分成七十至八十份，局部細微之處，無法用筆勾勒，全憑手眼與心靈相通方能繡成。

從錫繡到蘇繡，刺繡史的華章

晚清以后，上海、蘇州、南通，都有民間開設的刺繡傳授組織。被譽為“四大名繡”之首的蘇繡，無疑是江南刺繡最具代表性的文化遺產。

自宋代以后，蘇州刺繡之技十分興盛，工藝也日臻成熟。農村“家家養蠶，戶戶刺繡”，城內還出現了繡線巷、滾繡坊、錦繡坊、繡花弄等坊巷，可見蘇州刺繡之興

盛。當時不僅有以刺繡為生的，而且富家閨秀也往往以此消遣時日，陶冶性情，所謂“民間繡”、“閨閣繡”、“宮廷繡”的名稱也由此而來。清代蘇繡更是盛況空前，蘇州被稱為“繡市”而揚名四海。當時針法之多，應用之廣，莫不超過前朝，山水、亭臺、花鳥、人物，無所不能，無所不工。加上宮廷的大量需要，豪華富麗的繡品層出不窮。

難能可貴的是，蘇繡的生命力也無比旺盛，它從來沒有固步自封，而是不停創新。民國期間，蘇州民間藝人吸收上?！邦櫪C”以及西洋畫的特點，創造出光線明暗強烈、富有立體感的風格，最終奠定了它作為民間藝術瑰寶的地位。新中國成立后，蘇繡精品以其精湛技藝、地方特色和民族風格，被作為國禮贈送外國元首。僅以蘇州雙面繡為例，比如《鳴春圖》屏風贈給美國總統尼克松，《月季花》贈給坦桑尼亞總統尼雷爾，《熊貓》贈給加蓬總統邦戈，《菖蘭花》贈給日本皇后，《梅花》贈給朝鮮首相金日成等。而蘇繡精品《貓》《金魚》等作為國禮饋贈外國元首的更不勝枚舉。在對外文化交流和經濟貿易中，蘇繡作為友誼的紐帶，發揮了特有的作用。

在蘇繡的影響下，毗鄰蘇州的無錫也發展出了富有地域特色的民間刺繡“錫繡”，中華大辭典相關詞目是這樣描述錫繡的：“無錫精微繡，是蘇繡分支，它把刺繡的精、細、美表達得非常透徹：遠看詩情畫意，近看人物神情畢現，用放大鏡看，更是惟妙惟肖?！?/p>

歷史上，清光緒二十三年（1897），李佩黻、李韻和妯娌在無錫當地創辦了錫山繡工傳習會，來學習的多是閨中少女，傳授的是富有觀賞價值的“閨閣繡”，錫山繡工傳習會影響廣泛，這一時期，刺繡名家輩出，生產規模也很大，傳習會的繡品在當年世博會、國際博覽會上屢獲金獎。這一切成就了無錫刺繡的鼎盛，“傳習會”的成就贏得了當時農工商部“精制繡品、折法改良”的銀獎牌嘉獎。

歲月的流轉并沒有讓錫繡失去光彩，刺繡人才輩出、佳作流傳于世界各地。上世紀末，由錫繡大師、國家級“非遺”傳承人趙紅育負責主創，采用精微繡技藝與發繡技藝相結合的發繡長卷作品《古運河梁溪風情圖》，獲當年的大世界吉尼斯之最。今天，這幅作品珍藏在無錫市博物館。

湖州繡師沈壽，享譽世界繡壇

與高調的蘇繡、錫繡相比，同為江南腹地、同為絲綢之府、同樣以民間女紅聞名的湖州、嘉興地區刺繡就低調得多。甚至曾有不少民間刺繡的精品，都因為風格近似的緣故，被當作蘇繡售賣流通。

但是，低調的不是所有人。歷史上最著名的繡工，就出生在以絲商而聞名的湖州南潯鎮。

她叫沈壽，出生于19世紀末，從小學繡的她16歲時已經名揚京城。1904年沈壽繡了佛像等八幅作品，進獻清廷為慈禧太后祝壽，慈禧極為滿意，賜“壽”字，遂易名為“沈壽”。同年，沈壽受清朝政府委派遠赴日本進行考察、交流和研究日本的刺繡及繪畫藝術?；貒蟊蝗蚊鼮榍鍖m繡工科總教習，自創“仿真繡”，在中國近代刺繡史上開拓了一代新風。

1911年，沈壽繡成《意大利皇后愛麗娜像》，作為國禮贈送意大利，轟動該國朝野。意大利皇帝和皇后曾親函清政府，頌揚中國刺繡藝術精湛，并贈沈壽金表一塊。同時將這一幅作品送意大利都朗（都靈）博覽會展出，榮獲“世界至大榮譽最高級卓越獎”。1914年，沈壽任江蘇南通女紅傳習所所長。她治校嚴謹，教學有方，常率學生寫生，觀察實物，講述仿真繡的理論。即使在病中，她也讓學生圍榻聽講賦色用線的道理。1915年，沈壽繡的《耶穌像》，參加美國舊金山“巴拿馬—太平洋國際博覽會”展出，得一等大獎。她著有《雪宦繡譜》一書。

就是這樣一位繡工，讓江南民間刺繡站到了世界藝術的巔峰，完成了無數蘇繡前輩沒有完成的奇跡。

更讓人欣喜的是，這種藝術價值最大化還在延續 —今天，在湖絲傳統產區、與南潯一墻之隔的嘉興，越來越多的企業正把目光瞄準高藝術價值、高人力附加值的手工刺繡。在桐鄉、在平湖、在海寧，越來越多的手工繡成為繼皮草制品、羊毛制品后又一出口亮點。而且這些企業很善于使用新興的營銷工具 —在著名的電商網站“阿里巴巴”上，還有110家企業自發組建“嘉興刺繡網”。售賣的品類和手法也靈活多變，不再局限于屏風擺件、繡品畫框，而是把手工刺繡技藝更多地運用在實用的服裝、抱枕、被褥上。外貿訂單之多，讓人咋舌。

2012年，位于嘉興秀洲的絲綢文化博物館開館，占地面積4000多平方米，集中展示了當地的絲綢歷史和今天絲綢產業的狀況。其中的“綜藝坊”展館，就以各種圖表文字、珍貴文物、人物塑像、多媒體及場景等展示手段，有重點地反映了當地手工刺繡的悠久歷史和文化底蘊。

技藝傳承有序，繡師守護絕藝

當然，除了著名流派、著名繡工之外，傳承有序也是江南民間刺繡的特點之一。

讓我們把目光投向更南邊的杭州—全國除了蘇繡、蜀繡、湘繡、粵繡“四大名繡”之外，杭繡無疑在汴繡、晉繡、苗繡等繡種里獨占鰲頭。

今天還矗立在杭州中山路上的張允升百貨店，已經有200多年的歷史，便是杭繡發展的見證者。

民國初，出身制線工人的孫仲舒盤進“張允升”。孫仲舒早年在高銀巷木瓜弄口一家制線作坊當學徒，為人聰慧，深得東家傳授，制得一手好絲線。孫仲舒盤進店鋪后，自設工場，向桐鄉、海寧、德清及余杭等地采購優質的清水蠶絲，制成各檔絲線。

傳說，有一年春天，幾位泰國僧人來到張允升賣串繩的柜臺前，詰問伙計：“你們的絲線會不會褪色？ ”正好被站在一旁的孫仲舒聽到，當時立即請他們到制線工場參觀，并隨便拿了幾種顏色的絲線放進盛有清水的面盆中浸了一個多小時，撈出絲線，不見絲毫褪色，眾僧人心服口服。走時，買了不少串繩告別而去。從此，年年有不少東南亞諸國的寺廟和店家來杭采購或訂購。張允升絲線就是從這個時期走紅杭城。

在張允升的推動下，周邊民間的手工刺繡棚作發展很快，當時的羊壩頭巷曾成為杭城戲服刺繡的集中地。同時，民間手工成衣鋪也如雨后春筍應運而生。直到今天，中山路一帶的絲綢店鋪依然是周邊居民的所愛。

而傳承人方面，杭繡更是人才輩出。從南宋萌芽開始，每一代都有杰出的手工刺繡藝人，到今天，最著名的有中國工藝美術大師陳水琴，還有被譽為“最后的男工繡傳人 ”的趙亦軍，他們共同守護著杭繡這塊傳統的土地，還努力讓更多的年輕人接受傳續刺繡這門手藝。

其實，杭繡的傳承狀況，只是整個江南民間刺繡的一個縮影。雖然時代正處在機繡的沖擊和絲綢制品本身日漸弱勢的時代背景下，但江南民間刺繡一直是一個生命力強盛的“品類”，作為藝術瑰寶的它是整個絲綢文化不可分離的一部分，它的歷程也是值得我們珍藏的歷史記憶。

Master Zhao Hongyu watches a girl em-broidering a piece.

Take a look at the history of Chinese em-broidery and you will find that embroidery artists in Jiangnan， or the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta， are the most important chapter.

Embroidery flourished in Jiangnan in the last decades of the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）. There were schools in Shanghai， Suzhou and Nantong where women learned how to make embroidery and made amaz-ing works. Suzhou Embroidery， which dates back to a long time ago， is considered the best of China and is unquestionably the most representative cultural heritage of the embroideries in Jiangnan， as testified by the embroidery pieces unearthed from two famed pagodas of Suzhou， which were made respectively in the Five Dynasties （907-979） and the Song Dynasty （960-1279）. These unearthed embroidered silk pieces are the existing most ancient specimens of Suzhou Embroidery.

Suzhou Embroidery of needlework techniques and portrayed all

kinds of images such as landscape， archi-

tecture， birds and flowers， figures. As there

was a huge royal demand on the embroidery made in Suzhou， artisans in Suzhou pro-duced embroidery of luxury and elegance.

Embroidery in Suzhou has never rested on laurels. Embroidery artisans in Suzhou kept breaking new trails. In the decades of the Republic of China， local artists introduced chiaroscuro into embroidery and brought the local embroidery a historical high. Since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China， the Suzhou embroidery pieces have long since been used as state gifts for visiting presidents of foreign countries.

Wuxi Embroidery

Interesting enough， Wuxi， a city close to Suzhou， developed its own embroidery on the basis of Suzhou Embroidery. For a long time Wuxi followed Suzhou in embroi-dery. The turning point came in 1897 when two young women started a school to offer embroidery course for girls from local rich families. What was taught at the school was a kind of embroidery in the style of Lady Embroidery. Students at the school num-bered over 100. The school considerably enhanced the reputation of the embroidery industry in Wuxi. In the following years， embroidered silk pieces made by the artists from the school won a number of interna-tional gold medals. Wuxi Embroidery

finally made its own name and proved

its own value.

Since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949， the art of Wuxi Embroidery has kept improving. In the late 1990s， Zhao Yuhong， a state master of Wuxi Embroidery， created a hair embroidery masterpiece in col-laboration with other artists. The mas-terpiece is now in the collection of the Wuxi Museum.

Huzhou Embroidery

Compared with Suzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province， Huzhou and Jiaxing in Zhejiang seem to have kept a low profile in their embroidery. Some mas-terpieces made by artists in Huzhou and Jiaxing were mistakenly regarded as pieces made in Suzhou. However， the most famous embroidery artist in history was Shen Shou， a native woman of Nanxun， a town of silk export in Huzhou.

Shen Shou made her fame in 1904 when the sixteen-year-old created eight embroi-dery pieces as tributes and submitted them as gifts in celebration of the birthday of the Empress Dowager Cixi. In the same year， the government sent her to study embroidery and

painting in Japan. After she finished working

in Japan， she was appointed the chief teacher at the embroidery office of the palace. She developed a realist style. In 1911， she created

an embroidered portrait of the Italian queen.

In 1915， her embroidered portrait of Jesus won a gold medal at the Panama–Pacific Internation-al Exposition， a worlds fair held in San Francisco， in the United States. No other em-broidery artist in Jiangnan could stand up to Shen Shou in reputation.

Jiaxing Embroidery Industry

The embroidery indus-try of Jiaxing is taking off right now. Leather and wool products have long since

This embroidered portrait of Russian President Putin was made in Suzhou. Chinese President Xi Jin-ping presented it to President Putin as a state gift.

been export mainstays of Jiaxing. Hand-embroidery products are now another big export from Jiaxing. At Alibaba， Chinas larg-

est e-business headquartered in Hangzhou，

a league of 110 embroidery businesses in Jiaxing is enjoying brisk business online. They are flourishing partly because they have broken away from traditional products such as screens or framed and embroidered pictures. They are now applying embroidery to garments， pillows and bed sheets and com-forters. No wonder they are now producing largely for the overseas market.

Hangzhou Embroidery

Embroidery in Hangzhou has a similar history of glorious rise and miserable de-cline. As the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty （1127-1279）， Hangzhou enjoyed its glory as an embroidery powerhouse about 800 years ago. For a long time over the past 200 years， a great number of em-broidery and tailor shops gravitated toward Yangbatou， a street in downtown Hangzhou. Though embroidery in Hangzhou is at low ebb， there are still some embroidery masters living in the city. They are trying to revive the art and teach a new generation of em-broidery artists.