Category
Ne wat swetes ðanc, se þe biteres ne onbyrgeð (He never knows the pleasure of sweetness, who never tastes bitterness)
Entrant
Lihua Li
Entry
“Yunjian” (sometimes “Pijian”) or “Cloud Collar”
Item: “Yunjian” (sometimes “Pijian”) or “Cloud Collar”
Time: Ming Dynasty, however this collar was popular from Sui Dynasty and into the Qing Dynasty as well.
Materials: Linen and wool with bamboo thread embroidery.
Original item: I originally attempted to make this pre-2020, however I was new to embroidery and lost patience with it. After a particularly frustrating embroidery session I packed the project away to think about what it had done. When I pulled it out again in 2023 to work on it, I found that mice had eaten their way through half of the collar.
Challenges: This collar was originally made by interpreting period paintings. These did not show the pattern of the cloud collar which is more square than circular.
Further research into the history showed that in addition to being more square than circular, cloud collars were often made in two layers. The first, larger layer having 8 “clouds” and the second, smaller having 4 clouds, resulting in a pattern of 12 clouds total. This failure of prior research resulted in my collar only having one layer of 12 “clouds” rather than having it broken into two layers.
Photos:
1) Completed collar
2) Embroidery on the front
3) Embroidery on the original cloud collar I was making
4) Cloud collar in a period painting.
History:
The Yunjian appears to have been originally designed to protect the collar, neckline and shoulders of the wearer’s garments. However, overtime, this evolved into a decorative clothing accessory in and of itself, with heavy embroidery covering the full item.
During the Ming Dynasty in particular, these designs tended to be embroidered directly into the wearer’s outer clothing/Ao.
Paintings of Yunjian show that they were most commonly short collars which sat on the wearer’s shoulders but did not cover their arms of chests. Other paintings show them covering most of the wearer’s torso.
The Yunjian I have created covers more of my torso than the common paintings depict, however this was a deliberate choice so the cloud colour could be used for warmth during transitional seasons (Spring/Autumn).
Special mention – Cloud collars outside China
Cloud collars are by no means specific to China. Cloud collars are extremely common in both Persian and Vietnamese art, and I have included some SCA projects on Persian Cloud Collars in the references which go into detail regarding the history of Persian Cloud Collars.
References:
https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/chinese-fashion-and-the-history-of-the-cloud-collar
https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1560/Cammann__Schuyler__The_Symbolism_of_the_Cloud_Collar.pdf
https://audreydoeskaren.tumblr.com/post/695914864442474496/hi-i-dont-know-if-this-is-a-sort-of-dumb
https://squtemporarily.blogspot.com/2016/04/pelican-outfil-4-cloud-collar-design.html?m=1
http://www.silkroadconjectures.com/silk-road-conjectures-blog/the-cloud-collar-project
