textile; 紡織品(Chinese) BM-MAS.926.a

Period:Unknown Production date:5thC-6thC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:jin in plain weave, 平紋經錦 (Chinese),
Subjects:phoenix dragon 鳥 (Chinese) 龍 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 20.30 centimetres Width: 14 centimetres

Description:
Originally, these two triangular fragments were cut to make a banner headpiece. They are of jin silk woven in warp-faced compound plain weave with two colours, white on red on the front and red on white on the back. The confronting dragons are arranged so that their bodies form an arch-shaped grid, decorated with scroll clouds. There are alternating paired tigers and phoenixes below the dragons. The pattern does not have a repeat in the weft direction, but varies in the warp direction, from less than 10 cm to more than 13 cm. The term ‘jin silk with arch pattern’ is recorded in the Sui dynasty document, Da ye shi yi ji, and probably refers to this type of jin silk. A similar example of a jin silk with auspicious animal design, dated 455, was excavated at Astana, Turfan (Xinjiang). The Astana piece displays more animal figures than the British Museum piece. Examples of damask on plain weave with arch-shaped grids formed by scroll clouds have also been discovered at Astana. A large number of similar examples have been excavated at Yingpan, Yuli (Xinjiang), and Stein found a comparable fragment in the ruins of a beacon tower outside Dunhuang (T.XV.a.iii.0010.a). Both the weave structure and pattern style of the fragments shown here suggest an early date, probably the Northern Dynasties (386-581). The pieces also demonstrate influences from both the west and the east, for instance, the scroll cloud design from the west, and the technique from the east. Weave structures: Warp: silk, untwisted, red and white, 52 groups/cm (including 52 white ends and 52 red ends); Inner weft: silk, untwisted, triple, white, 10 lats/cm; Binding weft: silk, untwisted, single, white, 10 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 warp faced compound plain weave. 兩片三角形的平紋經錦殘片，正面白花紅地，背面紅花白地，原件經裁剪並制爲幡首。龍紋及龍身形成樓堞狀的骨架飾有渦狀卷雲紋，鳳紋（或朱雀紋）和虎紋交替換行橫立在樓堞骨架之中。圖案緯向不循環，經向循環各單元變化很大，從10cm到13cm不等。 此類織錦應該就是朱啓鈐《絲繡筆記》所引隋代文獻《拾遺記》中所稱的“列堞錦”。從考古實物來看，新疆吐魯番阿斯塔那出土北涼十三年（455）瑞獸紋錦的構圖風格與此相似，但動物更爲繁多。同一地區還出土過一些暗花綺織物上還有類似的卷雲形成的樓堞紋。新疆尉犁營盤墓地也曾出土大量類似織物，斯坦因本人也曾在甘肅敦煌烽燧遺址中發掘過一件類似風格的織錦殘片（T.XV.a.iii.0010.a）。因此，從此錦的組織結構及圖案風格來看，其年代可能會早到北朝時期，同時也可以看到來自東西雙方的影響，如渦狀卷雲紋樣有著典型的希臘來源，而平紋經錦的技術則來自中原。 組織結構： 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，紅白兩色互爲花作地，52套/cm（包括52根白經線和52根紅色經線）；緯線：明緯，絲， 無撚，單根排列，白色，10根/cm；夾緯，絲，基本無撚，單根排列，白色，10根/cm；組織：1/1平紋經重組織。
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Comments:This fragment was originally stiched together with MAS 926.b to form a triangle backed with plain buff silk and bordered with dark red tape, possibly the headpiece of a banner.