Page 328 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

FIG. 2. Drawing of wood that imitate embroidered textiles and incorporate
figure clothed in silk, from images, both human and imaginary, derived from
Tomb i at Mashan, Jiang-
ling, Hubei province; Late other media, as well as from literary sources. Trans-
Warring States period; lating hand-executed embroidery designs into a
Height 59.6 (23 !/ 2). After loom pattern meant that these designs could be
Hubei 19853, 81, fig. 66.
repeated almost endlessly — reproducing the size,
shape, and color of a given pattern. This translation
of handwork to loom technology was a remarkable
step toward the large-scale production of fabrics
with sophisticated and complex weave designs. 11
12
Nine silk bands (cat. H2c), woven in ;/n-bro-
cade in a "pagoda" pattern (taxingwen) and measur-
ing between 211 and 227 centimeters in length and
between 45 and 49 centimeters in width, secured
the outer textile shroud of the tomb's occupant. 13
Each "pagoda," composed of small geometric
shapes, measures approximately 3.7 centimeters high
by 1.4 -1.6 centimeters wide; nineteen such pagodas
tails; (4) crawling, amphibian-like dragons with long (alternating in orientation) extend symmetrically
tongues; (5) unicorn-like creatures; (6) upside-down across the weft of the fabric from a central pagoda
phoenixes with raised wings; (7) addorsed dragons; that forms the axis for nine pagodas to the left and
and (8) another pair of crawling dragons. nine to the right. The same pattern alternates verti-
The;'w brocade of the Warring States period cally — along the warp — after two pagoda rows
was a polychrome, warp-faced compound tabby (that is, every 7.4 centimeters). The thread count of
weave. The warp in this textile is composed of the warp and weft amounts to 88:24 per centimeter.
threads slightly twisted in an S-direction (the This means that the pattern unit in weft direction
ground warps are dark yellow and brown; the pat- comprises at a minimum approximately 2.024 ends,
terning warp is dark red); the weft is dark brown. and in warp direction repeats after approximately
The thread count of the warp and weft amounts to 178 picks. Three combinations of threads in two
156:52 per centimeter, which means that the pattern colors were used to weave the brocade: light brown
unit in weft direction comprises approximately and yellowish brown, dark brown and yellowish
7,660 ends over a width of 49.1 centimeters. The brown, and vermilion and yellowish brown; the weft
pattern unit in warp direction repeats after 286 thread is dark brown.
picks, or 5.5 centimeters. A small weaving flaw The pattern of the band testifies to the highly
(an error in preparing the loom) runs consistently developed geometrical style in silk weaving —
through the patterned rectangles that divide a style mastered as early as the late fourth century
the seventh from the eighth figural scene, evidence BCE. The design's enduring role in fashion is evi-
that a mechanical device was used to make the dent in the silk pagoda bands that ornament the
pattern during the weaving. 10 clothes of wooden female figures packed in the
Technologically, as well as artistically, the compartment at the head of the inner coffin
Mashan Tomb ijin brocade constitutes one of the (fig. 2). 14 DK
most complex woven figural designs thus far exca-
vated in China. Stiff and angular geometric pat-
terns— imposed to some extent by the limitations
of early loom technology — here give way to designs

327 | T E X T I L E S FROM M A S H A N , J I A N C L I N C