Patrol

The work was produced in the 1970s at the late Cultural Revolution, when China was extremely sensitive to everything involving “feudalism, capitalism, or revisionism.” Hence, the scope of subject-matters for painting was rather narrow, so works of landscape photography carrying political propaganda were transplanted onto embroidery screens. The photographic works of JIANG Qing under the pseudonym of “Jun Ling” were popular around 1974. Although whether this original copy was indeed a work of Jiang remains in question, the figure, the composition, and the subject are common for the times. The embroidery work was produced with the Twisted Stitch, the Straight Stitch, and Long and Short Stitch combined. Both the wildflowers and weed in the foreground and the woods in the background present textures true to life, while the horses and warriors are even more lifelike.