textile; 紡織品(Chinese) BM-MAS.820.e

Period:Western Han dynasty Production date:2ndC BC-1stC BC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:jin in plain weave, 平紋經錦 (Chinese),
Subjects:dragon phoenix 龍 (Chinese) 鳳凰 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Height: 19 centimetres Width: 7.50 centimetres

Description:
Nine fragments of jin silk textile in different shapes, mostly small ones. The largest one is MAS820a, 7cm in warp and 19cm in weft. It was woven in warp-faced compound plain weave, so called jin in plain weave here, with two colours, blue and yellow. The pattern has a lozenge grid made of straight lines, and linked with stars at each cross, probably the sun surrounded by clouds. Four stylised dragons are placed inside one row of lozenges with a symmetrical geometric motif in the centre, probably derived from the cup motif, and four stylised phoenixes are inside the other row of lozenges, with a quatrefoil in the centre. All the pattern elements, including the dragon, phoenix, clouds, especially the star and cup, show an early style of the silk art, probably from the Western Han dynasty. The reconstructed pattern repeats 7.5cm in the warp direction and 8.5cm in the weft direction. Weave structures: Warp: silk, untwisted, single, blue and yellow, 70 groups/cm (including 70 blue ends and 70 yellow ends); Inner weft: silk, untwisted, single, tan, 15 lats/cm; Binding weft: silk, untwisted, single, tan, 15 lats/cm. Weave structure: 1/1 warp faced compound plain weave. 共有九片平紋經錦殘片，形狀不一，大部分都是小殘片，其中最大的是MAS820a，經向7cm，緯向19cm。這件經錦只有藍、黃兩種色彩，其圖案由直線構成菱形骨架，直線相交處以星紋相連，或許就是太陽紋，四周繞以卷雲紋。四條簡化的行龍處於一排菱格之內，中間是一對稱的幾何紋，或許是從杯紋演化而來。另一排菱格內是四隻抽象的立鳳，中間是十字形朵花。所有的織物紋樣，包括龍紋、鳳紋和雲紋，特別是星紋和杯紋，顯示出這件絲織物的風格可以早到西漢。拼複後的織錦圖案經向循環爲7.5cm，緯向循環爲8.5cm。 組織結構： 經線：絲，無撚，單根排列，藍黃兩色互爲花作地，70套/cm（包括70根藍色經線和70根黃色經線）；緯線：明緯，絲， 無撚，單根排列，本色，15根/cm；夾緯，絲，基本無撚，單根排列，本色，15根/cm；組織：1/1平紋經重組織。
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Comments:This fragment belongs to a group of nine fragments (MAS 820. a-i), which were found stiched together by Stein. However, they were not all cut from the same cloth.