Strands of Virtue: Exploring Gentry Laywomen’s Hair Embroideries of Guanyin in Late Imperial Jiangnan
Open AccessThis paper examines the relationship between virtue establishment and hair embroideries of Guanyin by gentry laywomen in late imperial Jiangnan. Embroidery has been a significant form of artistic expression for Chinese women, and premodern female devotees often embroidered Buddhist deities and sutras as a devotional practice. Some devotees displayed a higher level of religious commitment by stitching their hair into the Buddhist image. With Guanyin 觀音 (Skt. Avalokiteśvara), the bodhisattva of compassion, completely transformed into a female deity in the late imperial period, she became the most favored subject in hair embroideries of gentry laywomen in Jiangnan, which has been the center for Chan Buddhism and Guanyin worship. By examining literary texts and surviving hair embroideries, this paper explores the significance of gentry women’s choice of embroidery as an approach and hair as a medium to depict the image of Guanyin. The materiality of hair serves as the central theme and guiding framework throughout the paper's discourse. It argues that late imperial gentry laywomen utilized the practice of hair-embroidering Guanyin to materialize their simultaneous pursuit of multifaceted objectives in ideal gentry lay womanhood, which included a high level of religious commitment, genuine adherence to Confucian filial piety, and the demonstration of external and internal personal refinements. This paper aims to contribute a comprehensive analysis of the material significance of women’s hair in religious crafts and its impact on shaping ideal femininity in late imperial China.
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