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The Disappearance of Silk Weaves with Weft Effects in Early China

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The Disappearance of Silk Weaves with Weft Effects in Early China Chinese Science 12 (1995): 41-76 The Disappearance of Silk Weaves with Weft Effects in Early China Angela Sheng [Angela Sheng was formerly Assistant Curator in the Textiles Department, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada. She is now living and researching in Japan. Material in Figures 5, Al, A2, and A4 has been reprinted from Dorothy K. Burnham, Warp and Weft: A Textile Tenninology (Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1980), with permission ofthe author.} * * * n 1982 spectacular costumes and textiles were unearthed from the Number I One Chu Tomb (340-278 B.C.) at Mashan in Jiangling (Hubei 1985). Complex patterns woven with weft effect were found on seven silk bands (taodai) trimming the opening of four robes. 1 This discovery all but shatters the misconception that the ancient Chinese learned to weave patterns in the weft from foreigners and obliterates the false debate about the origin of the Chinese drawloom. 2 But it also raises a new question: why did the Chinese not continue 1 The term "weaves with weft effects" follows Dorothy Bumham's classification ( 1980: 195-96). Textile terms are often confusing in both English and Chinese and this confusion is compounded in translation. As much as possible, I will use modem Chinese textile terms that refer to weave structures and provide their English equivalents. Where two different ancient textiles are the same in structure, I will use their historical names. For details on Chinese silk weaves, see Becker 1987: 23-25 and Zhao Feng 1992: 31-73. For an explantion of textile terins, see Appendix. 2 Based on textile finds from Antinoi!, Egypt dating to A.O. 300-500, Western schol­ ars generally believe that the Syrian techniques of weaving patterns in the weft led to the invention of the drawloom in Central Asia (Geijer 1979: 98-100; De Jonghe 1990: 75). The implication is that since the Chinese lacked such expertise, or at least in the absence of such evidence, weaves imported from Syria inspired the Chinese to develop a draw­ loom with a "tower" (hua/ou) as illustrated in Song Yingxing's text of 1637, Tiangong kaiwu (The exploitation of the works of nature, 1983 (1637): 86) at a much later date. 41 Downloaded from Brill.com10/09/2021 12:23:56PM via free access 42 Chinese Science 12 (1995) to develop weaves with weft effects after they had demonstrated obvious com­ petence in making them? Until this discovery, scholars tended to think that the ancient Chinese spe­ cialized only in weaving silks with warp effects,3 as exemplified by the techni­ cally difficult qirongjin (polychrome warp-faced compound tabby with piled loops or proto-velvet) found in 1972 in the Number One Han Tomb (168 e.c.) at Mawangdui in Changsha (Hunan 1973). While mastery of sericulture and silk-reeling in the Shang dynasty (16th-I Ith c. e.c.) may have led to the con­ version of long silk filament into warp, and weaves with warp effects such as have been popular in China since then (Kuhn 1982, 390-91 ),4 the advantage of silk's length should not have precluded its use as weft for weaving patterns. This article discusses the complexity of these early silk weaves with weft ef­ fects and summarizes how they are related to the much simpler tapestry, also a weave with weft effect (Sheng 1993). Whereas complex weft-patterned silk bands were used to trim robes, simple tapestry bands were probably made for use as belts. These two uses were related to the dress of the time. As the style of dress changed, it seems that artisans abandoned the weaving of weft-patterned silks until the sixth and seventh centuries when new silk weaves of different weft effects appeared. 5 This article also attempts to account for the disappear­ ance of the weaving of silk bands with weft effects in early China by analyzing changes in fashion and the social conditions of textile production from the War­ ring States period to the Former Han dynasty (206-8 B.C.). 6 However, Chinese scholars disagree. Without a draw mechanism, though not necessarily the "tower" type, these scholars argue, the ancient Chinese could not have woven such figured silks (with pattern in the warp) as those unearthed from Niya, Xinjiang dating to the Latter Han dynasty (A.O. 25-220) (Xia 1979: 76). Inventions commonly arise independently. Possibly, weavers both in China and in Central Asia arrived at ways of controlling the warp on their own without foreign influ­ ence. Intriguing designs foreign to their own tradition may also have precipitated techni­ cal improvements by Chinese and Syrian weavers. Both possibilities would support theories on how drawlooms in China evolved and differed from those in Central Asia while ignoring who did what first. For a theoretical discussion of independent inventions, see Thomas S. Kuhn 1962: 52-65. 3 For details, see Appendix. 4 The implication is that a short fiber like wool would be better suited for weaves with weft effects (Becker 1987: 81 ). 5 See in the Appendix the section on twill under Basic Textile Terms and the refer­ ence to weft-faced compound tabbies or twills in the section onjin under Early Chinese Weaves with Warp Effects. 6 Archaeology has also greatly enriched our understanding of the period (Yang 1986: 18-21 ). Because more than 2,500 Chu tombs have been unearthed from 1950 to 1980 (Gao and Xiong 1980: 51), studies of Chu culture have also proliferated (Shu 1982; Blakeley 1985-87). Proponents of the theory that Chu culture grew indigenously con­ tinue to win wider recognition (Wen Chongyi 1990; Zhang Zhengming 1990). Downloaded from Brill.com10/09/2021 12:23:56PM via free access Angela Sheng: The Disappearence ofSilk Weaves with Weft Effects 43 Early Chinese Silk Weaves with Weft Effects Material evidence from Mashan shows that Chu artisans wove two categories of complex weaves with weft effects: brocaded textiles, and the technically more complicated Type B chuanrao method of weft-patterning discussed in detail below. An example of the brocaded variety is found in the border of mat N26 from Mashan.7 It is ajin (warp-faced compound tabby) further brocaded with an extra weft (Hubei 1985: 40, fig. 33-2; col. pl. 11) (Figure 1). The simple geo­ metric pattern of a brocaded square in the middle of a warp-faced cross reflects an unsophisticated mechanism for controlling the warp. Brocading was also evident on one of the seven silk bands discussed in detail below. According to Peng Hao, the seven silk bands, taodai,8 were woven in two different ways for the patterns to appear in the weft (Hubei 1985, 50: table 9).9 The two types are similar in that each band is woven with one warp and two wefts-one ground weft for binding with the ground warp to form the 1/1 tabby structure and one supplementary pattern weft for making the motifs. However, the two types differ in the way that the supplementary pattern weft is woven. Vastly increased knowledge of Chu culture allows us to treat textiles from both the earlier Chu Mashan tomb and from the later Han Mawangdui tomb as belonging to the same cultural tradition (Li 1984: 302). On the strength of this cultural similarity, I intend to draw inferences on Chu textile culture that extend to the Fonner Han dynasty. 7 On brocading, see Appendix. 8 Dai is a generic tenn still in use meaning a belt or a narrow band; tao is an ancient, generic tenn meaning silk bands. Tao does not designate any particular weave (Morohashi 1976: 4-8950 and 8-27465). The most famous tao bears the words qian Jin (thousand gold) and was discovered at Mawangdui (Shanghai 1980: 55-58). Its braided structure bears no resemblance to that of the weft-patterned tao unearthed from Mashan and is excluded from discussion here. Peng Hao also refers to another type of silk band as tao, but it is knitted rather than woven (1985: 90--95). For clarity, the latter should be called by its ancient name, xun (Morohashi 1976: 8-27241 ). It is also excluded from discussion here. 9 Due to inaccessibility, I rely entirely on Peng Hao's analysis (1984; reprinted in Hubei 1985: 43-50) the pertinent sections of which I have condensed in translation. These analyses were verified by Wang Xu, professor with the Study Group of the His­ tory of Chinese Costumes and Textiles, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. Prof. Wang introduced me to Mr. Peng Hao, Curator of the Jingzhou Museum in Jian­ gling, during the latter's visit to Beijing in 1990. I wish to thank them both for discussing with me their work on these finds. On textile production in ancient China, especially that of silk, see Sato (1962: 107- 208; 1977). Two equally useful and more comprehensive references are Zhongguo fang­ zhi kexue jishu shi, gudai bu/en edited by Chen Weiji (1984) and Dieter Kuhn's volume on spinning and reeling ( 1988). Downloaded from Brill.com10/09/2021 12:23:56PM via free access 44 Chinese Science I 2 (1995) A. Textile warp ! weft .---.. B. Diagram showing brocading C. Pattern Figure 1. Brocaded jin on border of mat N26, Mashan tomb, ca. 340-278 s.c., Jingzhou Museum. Source: Hubei 1985: 40, fig. 33-2; colored plates 11-1 , 11-2, lower band. Downloaded from Brill.com10/09/2021 12:23:56PM via free access Angela Sheng: The Disappearence ofSilk Weaves with Weft Effects 45 A. Lower band weft t warp..--. B. Weave structure C. Pattern warp t weft ..--. 0000000 Figure 2.
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