"The most prized technique of all Chinese textiles was woven Kesi 'cut silk' (5). It took much longer to weave silk than to embroider, with the finest pieces of this type of weaving being reversible. Bands worked in this technique are fairly rare and expensive (6). When the weft (horizontal) threads were woven, each colour was woven in only where it was required to be visible, with a different bobbin being used for each colour rather than a continuous thread running across the reverse (7). Each end of silk was then deftly sewn back into that particular colour, to make the work reversible. When a piece of kesi is held up to the light slits can be seen, formed where there is a colour break. The band from my collection above has small children at lessons beautifully depicted and in clear bright shades, their features inked. This was common practice during the 19th century when it was quicker to ink in details than to weave." -Meg Andrews

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