The History of Silk and Silk Painting

It is believed that the Chinese introduced silk in the 27th century BCE (Before Current Era) and it remained exclusive to China until the Famous Silk Road opened during the first millennium BC opening thousands of miles of interconnected trade routes across Asia, Africa and Europe.

There is a famous Chinese legend which tells of the origin of silk - in the 27th century BCE a silk worm's cocoon fell into the tea cup of the empress Leizu, the 14 year old wife of the Yellow Emperor. As she lifted out the cocoon it began to unravel in one very long continous thread and she was enthralled by the softness and beauty of it. She found that by wrapping several threads together she could make a strong thread that could be woven. Empress Leizu is credited with inventing the first loom and starting the production of silk.


The Chinese tried to keep the method of making silk to themselves but eventually the Japanese discovered their secret,  managed to obtain silkworm eggs and silk production became widespread.

In India we can trace silk painting back to the 2nd century AD where the wax resist technique was used for decorating silks. During the Moghul era in the 17 - 19th centuries it was at its most popular with many wall hangings and portrait pictures being produced.

The Crusades (around 12th Century AD) brought silk to Western Europe and in particular Italy where new manufacturing techniques were developed and production boomed. The Industrial revolution in the 18th century where mechanisation of the textile industry made production of silk cheaper meant that silk became widely available worldwide and was at its most popular.

Of course all this was good news for silk painting. In Java the method of batik on silk, using wax as a resist was developed and family members of the Russian Tzar, Nicholas II brought the art to France where the serti technique was introduced in the 20th Century. By the 1970s silk painting had gained popularity in Britain and America.

Today silk painting is flourishing thanks partly to the many artists now offering silk painting classes and to the increasing numbers of craft suppliers who specialise in silk painting equipment.