The Nanjing Yunjin Museum has opened a farewell exhibition at its old venue before moving to a new building later this year. Titled “Brocade as Bridge, Journey to a New Chapter,” the show began on May 16, 2026, and is organized by the Chinese Arts and Crafts Association’s Brocade Committee with the museum.
The centerpiece is “Full House of Color,” a yunjin masterwork created jointly by three generations of weavers. National-level inheritor Zhou Shuangxi, provincial-level inheritor Li Xiaowei, and representative inheritor Chen Cheng collaborated for the first time on a single piece. The work combines three top yunjin techniques: gold-thread patterning, colored-weft patterning, and peacock-feather thread patterning. It uses an azurite blue ground, a color choice that required six sample attempts before the final weave.
The numbers behind the piece underline its complexity. The weavers performed 46,210 individual pattern lifts and 3,318 shuttle throws, integrating thirty different materials. Zhou Shuangxi, who entered the craft in 1973 and once restored a Ming dynasty peacock-feathered robe material from the Dingling tomb, described the new work as a gift to the museum’s next chapter. The title itself is a Chinese expression for widespread good fortune, fitting for a piece meant to celebrate both a career and an institution.
Besides “Full House of Color,” the exhibition presents “Bamboo Affairs Complete,” a fan that pairs yunjin fabric with Liu family bamboo weaving. The collaboration brings together two national intangible heritage crafts from Jiangnan and Sichuan. Three fashion vests from the museum’s Yuanxian brand are also on display, showing how yunjin can move from wall hangings to wearable garments. The vest designs include cat motifs, cloud-pavilion imagery, and auspicious patterns.
The exhibition is both a send-off and a preview. Museum director Jian Mingwei said the old venue will close and the collection will relocate to a new building in the second half of 2026. The new site will continue the museum’s work in research, education, and fashion crossover under the Yuanxian label. The move is expected to give the museum more space for exhibitions, public workshops, and collaborations with other cultural institutions.
Visitors can see “Full House of Color” and the other works at the Nanjing Yunjin Museum until the old venue closes. The show also serves as a public reminder that yunjin, once reserved for imperial robes, is now being reimagined as a living craft for contemporary audiences.
