Vintage Chinese Blue Jiaxie Wedding Quilt Face – Drama Pattern

A remarkable vintage Blue Jiaxie (蓝夹缬) wedding quilt face from the Wenzhou area of southern Zhejiang, China, probably dating from around the mid-20th century.

Size: 230cm x 190cm (90” x 75”)

Blue Jiaxie is an extraordinary traditional form of carved-board resist dyeing. Long lengths of cotton were folded and tightly clamped between intricately carved wooden boards before being repeatedly immersed in blue dye. The protected areas remained pale, creating the wonderfully detailed blue-and-white designs.

The finished cloth was then cut into four lengths and stitched together to form the quilt face. The backing would have been made from lengths of indigo cotton and stuffed with a cotton filling. 

The really interesting part is the imagery. The quilt contains 16 different panels depicting theatrical characters and scenes. Drama-patterned Blue Jiaxie was a particular tradition of the Wenzhou region, with imagery drawn from popular local theatre and opera. Rather than simply decorating a wedding quilt with flowers, its makers effectively covered it with scenes from a performance.

Among the designs is what appears to be the traditional Double Happiness (囍) motif, an auspicious symbol particularly associated with marriage. Blue Jiaxie quilt faces themselves were an important part of local wedding traditions and were still being made and used during the mid-20th century.

The textile shows the fading, wear and irregularities expected from an old handmade piece, but the blue colour is very stable and the textile is machine washable, making it wonderfully usable as well as collectible.

Origin: Wenzhou region, southern Zhejiang, China
Date: Probably mid-20th century
Material: Cotton
Technique: Blue Jiaxie / Lan Jiaxie (蓝夹缬), carved-board clamp-resist dyeing