textile; 紡織品(Chinese) BM-MAS.926.b

Period:Unknown Production date:5thC-6thC
Materials:silk, 絲綢 (Chinese),
Technique:jin in plain weave, 平紋經錦 (Chinese),
Subjects:dragon phoenix 龍 (Chinese) 鳥 (Chinese)
Dimensions:Length: 17 centimetres Width: 9.50 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.
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Comments:This fragment was originally stiched together with MAS 926.a to form a triangle backed with plain buff silk and bordered with dark red tape, possibly the headpiece of a banner.