Kesi is the Chinese silk tapestry technique that creates images by weaving colored threads into a slit-tapestry structure.
In kesi, different colored areas are woven separately with their own bobbins. This construction leaves tiny vertical slits between adjoining color blocks, producing a characteristic cut-silk appearance. The technique can create remarkably sharp outlines and was used for images, calligraphic inscriptions, and textile copies of paintings.
Kesi was practiced in China by at least the Tang period and became especially important in the Song and later dynasties. Imperial workshops used it for robes, scroll-like textile pictures, and religious imagery. Because the technique is labor-intensive, highly detailed pieces could be extremely expensive.
Kesi is often translated as “cut silk,” but it is not simply silk embroidery. Embroidery adds stitches to a fabric surface, whereas kesi builds the image as the textile itself is woven.