banner; textile; 幡(Chinese); 紡織品(Chinese) BM-MAS.860

Period:Tang dynasty Production date:9thC-10thC
Materials:silk, bamboo, 絲綢 (Chinese), 竹子 (Chinese),
Technique:satin samite, damask on plain weave, plain weave, 緞紋緯錦 (Chinese), 綺 (Chinese), 絹 (Chinese),
Subjects:bird 鳥 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Length: 131 centimetres Width: 29.50 centimetres

Description:
This banner is preserved in its entirety. It has a suspension loop stitched to the top. The triangular front face or infill is sewn with two pieces of satin samite. One piece shows flying eagles (probably four flying eagles in a roundel) on a dark blue ground, the other shows floral roundels on a pink ground. The eagles are yellow and outlined in red. However, they are too fragmentary to reconstruct the design convincingly. The borders of the banner head are sewn with different fabrics, green damask with lozenges on plain weave and plain woven purple silk and side streamers or arms in red colour are attached to each side. The three body panels are made of different coloured plain woven fabrics; blue, white and red sewn together from the top. The three bottom streamers are still joined at the top and bottom, having been cut from a single piece of blue silk, the same as the blue plain weave used in the top panel. At the bottom is a rapeze-shaped weighting board with floral pattern painted on both sides. This is one of the most complete coloured banners discovered in Cave 17. The infill is of samite, indicating it is of superior grade. Satin samite was popular in the early Liao dynasty, and the arrangement of four flying birds in a roundel was fairly common in the Liao dynasty. Since most of the Liao designs followed those of the late Tang, so this banner could be date from an earlier period, from the late Tang to the Five Dynasties. Weave structures: 1. satin samite Inner warp: silk, untwisted, single, light red, 28 ends/cm; Binding warp: silk, untwisted, single, light red, 28 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, red, yellow and blue, 14 passes/cm. Weave structure: 5-ends weft faced compound satin. 2. satin samite Inner warp: silk, untwisted, single, light red, 40 ends/cm; Binding warp: silk, untwisted, single, light red, 40 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, orange, white, green, light blue and blue, 16 passes/cm. Weave structure: 5-ends weft faced compound satin. 3. green damask on plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, green, 61 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, green, 36 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave as ground and 2-2 weave as pattern. 4. purple silk plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, purple , 54 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, purple, 53 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 5. satin samite Inner warp: silk, untwisted, single, light red, 26 ends/cm; Binding warp: silk, untwisted, single, light red, 26 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, yellow and light blue, 26 passes/cm. Weave structure: 5-ends weft faced compound satin. 6. bule silk plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, blue, 57 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, blue, 31 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 7. white silk plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, white, 60 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, white, 56 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 8. red silk plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, red, 59 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, red, 30 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 9. red silk plain weave Warp: silk, Z-twisted, single, red, 28 ends/cm; Weft: silk, Z-twisted, single, red, 14 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 10. light orange silk plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, light orange, 54 ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, light orange, 42 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 11. red silk plain weave Warp: silk, untwisted, single, red, 37ends/cm; Weft: silk, untwisted, single, red, 32 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 plain weave. 此幡保存完整，其上釘有懸袢，幡面呈三角形，由兩塊不同的遼式緞紋緯錦織物拼縫而成，一塊爲深藍地上顯飛鷹紋樣，黃體紅邊，飛鷹可能爲一團窠中四隻飛鷹，另一塊爲粉紅地上的團窠花卉紋樣，織物較殘而無法復原紋樣。幡面兩側包縫有以不同面料製成的幡首斜邊，分別爲綠色菱格紋綺及紫色絹，幡面兩側各縫有一條幡帶；幡身部分由三塊不同的絹織物拼縫製成，從上到下分別爲藍色絹、白色絹和紅色絹；幡足共三條，以同塊藍色絹切成，但其上下端仍相連，其上端與幡身縫合，下端則縫入梯形的木制鎮板。 這是藏經洞所出最爲完好的彩幡之一，幡額上有織錦面料，顯示這是較爲高檔的彩幡。由於遼式緞紋緯錦的組織結構流行於遼代早期，織錦鷹紋的造型與遼代的花繞雙鷹紋錦中的鷹非常相似，而團窠四飛鳥的排列在遼代也非常常見，可知此幡的年代較晚，應該在唐末至五代時期。 組織結構： 1. 遼式緞紋緯錦 經線：明經：絲，無撚，單根排列，淡紅色，28根/cm；夾經：絲，無撚，單根排列，白色，28根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，紅、黃、藍色，14組/cm；組織：五枚遼式緞紋重組織。 2. 遼式緞紋緯錦 經線：明經：絲，無撚，單根排列，淡紅色，40根/cm；夾經：絲，無撚，單根排列，淡紅色，40根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，橙、绿、浅蓝、藍、白色，16組/cm；組織：五枚遼式緞紋重組織。 3. 綠色菱格紋綺 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，綠色，61根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，綠色，36根/cm；組織：1/1平紋地上以2-2並絲組織起花。 4. 紫色絹 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紫色，54根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紫色，53根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。 5. 緞紋緯錦 經線：明經：絲，無撚，單根排列，淡紅色，26根/cm；夾經：絲，無撚，單根排列，淡紅色，26根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，黃、浅藍等色，26組/cm；組織：五枚緞紋重組織。 6. 藍色絹 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，藍色，57根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，藍色，31根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。 7.白色絹 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，白色，60根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，白色，56根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。 8. 紅色絹 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紅色，59根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紅色，30根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。 9. 紅色絹 經線：綿線，Z撚，單根排列，紅色，28根/cm；緯線：綿線，Z撚，單根排列，紅色，14根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。 10. 淺橙紅色絹 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，淺橙紅色，54根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，淺橙紅色，42根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。 11. 紅色絹 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紅色，37根/cm；緯線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紅色，32根/cm；組織：1/1平紋。
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Comments:EnglishFrom Whitfield 1985:This, like the painted banners shown in Vol. 1, Pl. 28, is preserved complete, from the suspension loop at the top to the painted weighting board at the bottom. The construction is identical to the painted banners, except that here two additional bamboo splints are inserted at the joins between the coloured panels. Clearly the sequence of colours-blue, white and red (repeated in the companion banner shown in the next plate)-must have had its significance, but I am not able to explain this. The headpiece (Pl. 10-2) is a confection of a variety of handsome fabrics. One border is, as Stein described it, “of fine plain plum-coloured silk, calendered on [the] outside,” the other is a green damask with a lozenge pattern. The two large pieces in the centre, one of them showing an eagle with wings outspread, are both weft-faced silks. The streamer hanging at the left includes a piece of glazed silk. The three tail streamers are joined at the top and bottom, having been cut from a single piece of silk, the cut edges rolled and sewn to prevent fraying. The side streamers are attached so as to partly cover the three main panels when the banner is viewed from the front. This effect is lost when viewed from the back, but otherwise the appearance is virtually the same, the weighting board being painted on both sides: the weft-faced silk in the headpiece, the design of which can only be properly seen from the one side, indicates the front. ChineseFrom Whitfield 1985:此幡與第1卷圖28的絹繪幡相同，從上端的吊環到幡畫下端的鎮板，所有的部位都完整地保留下來。構造方面，本圖幡的彩絹的連接處插了竹籖，除了其數量比絹繪的幡多出兩根這一點不同外，其他方面完全一樣。幡身青、白、紅色的順序（也在與此幡是一對的下圖幡中重復著），無疑有某種意義，但我無法解釋。幡頭（圖10－2）是用美麗的織物拼接而成。正斯坦因所說，一端的邊是“有光澤的紫色精美平絹”，另一端是加了菱形織紋的綠色綾。中央部分是兩塊布料拼合的，其中一塊上可見展翅的鷹，兩塊都是緯錦。側面幡尾中的左側也有一部分使用了有光澤的絹。幡腳是在一塊絹上做出切口，使之成爲三根，上下端仍連接在一起，爲了不使切口脫線，鎖了邊。兩側的幡尾，從幡的正面看，略微遮擋幡身。這種效果從背面看不出，而其他特點從背面看是一樣的。鎮板的兩面上都有彩繪，但幡頭緯錦上的圖案，只能從一側看到，它是幡正面的標誌。