Cover news reporter Zeng Jie
When you think of ancient traditional costumes on the mainland, what comes to mind? Is it the plain and ancient Pre-Qin robes, the atmosphere of the classical Han Dynasty deep clothes, or the gorgeous and exquisite Tang costumes? Is it a stepping rock with flourishing branches, a flat square inlaid with gold and silver, or a wide scarf like a crown?
On January 25th, the "Yunxiang Clothing - Silk Road Costume Culture Special Exhibition" was launched at the Chengdu Museum, and the curator of the exhibition, Wei Min, explained the origin of the exhibition and the story behind the cultural relics, the leather shoes of Dunhuang in the Han Dynasty, the crimson green skirt of the Former Qin Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty figurines wearing leopard print leather pants, and the cultural relics can see the aesthetic changes of the ancients and the exquisite manufacturing process.
The audience is watching the exhibition in Chengbo
With the theme of Silk Road costumes, Chengdu Museum unites China Silk Museum, Gansu Provincial Museum, Inner Mongolia Museum, Yunnan Provincial Museum, Fujian Museum, Hunan Provincial Museum, Shandong Museum, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Museum, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Guyuan Museum, Gansu Jianmu Museum, Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Beijing Institute of Costume Institute Ethnic Costume Museum, Jingzhou Museum, Luoyang Museum, Hanjing Emperor Yang Mausoleum Museum, Xi'an Museum, Qingcheng County Museum, Gaotai County Museum, Jiayuguan Great Wall Museum, Yanchi County Museum, Turpan Museum and other 186 pieces/groups of precious cultural relics from more than 20 cultural institutions in 11 provinces, 3 autonomous regions and 1 municipality directly under the central government, through silk fabrics, costumes, pottery figurines, portrait bricks, etc., lead the audience into a magnificent and grand world of clothing, feel the vitality from ancient costume art.
Phoenix flower pattern brocade robe (replica) Warring States Jingzhou Museum Photo: Zhang Yuteng
186 pieces/group of treasures
Recreating the Millennium "Kingdom of Clothing"
Through the interpretation of the development and changes of clothing culture along the Silk Road, the "Yunxiang Clothing - Silk Road Costume Culture Special Exhibition" explores the continuous development of traditional Chinese costumes in ethnic integration, highlighting the artistic achievements of the Chinese nation as the "Kingdom of Clothing and Crown".
The brocade robes with flower patterns from the Warring States Tomb in Mashan, Jingzhou City, tell the story of the development of China's silk weaving industry in the pre-Qin period; the dragon-shaped gold necklaces and gem-encrusted gold crown ornaments unearthed in Inner Mongolia, and the gold fangqi excavated from Ningxia Yanchi, etc., empirically prove the exchange and integration of foreign culture and Central Plains costume culture; the picking mulberry silk painting bricks unearthed in Gaotai County, Gansu Province, truly depict the local textile production technology in the western regions of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, showing the spread of central plain textile technology along the Silk Road.
This exhibition concentrates the characteristic historical and cultural resources of Chengdu and 186 pieces/groups of precious cultural relics from cultural and museum units along the Silk Road, not only the classic collections of provincial large museums, but also the fine cultural relics of many small and medium-sized museums in many places that have rarely entered the public eye before. For this cooperation model, the curator said that this not only satisfies the needs of Chengbo as a curator, gathers more cultural relics and concentrates on presenting a good exhibition, but also promotes the exchange of collection resources of local museums, so that their collection of exquisite cultural relics can be fully displayed; at the same time, it can also meet the audience's viewing needs for new exhibitions and optimistic exhibitions, and can appreciate the style of exquisite cultural relics in different regions.
Dragon-shaped gold necklace Jin Dynasty Inner Mongolia Museum Photo: Yang Yong
The best of the cultural relics
Return to the silk road
With the theme ideas of "The Belt and Road", "Ethnic Integration" and "Technology and Cultural Exchange", the exhibition shows the historical trajectory of the integration and development of multi-source costume culture on the Silk Road through themes such as "The Initial Opening of the Silk Road and the Western Transmission of Han Jin", "The Integration and Development of National Costumes", "Weaving Technology and Style Innovation", etc., and outlines a splendid picture of the continuous and thriving chinese national costume culture.
Silkworm ancestors, silkworm bush people raise silkworms, silkworm god horse head lady... As early as thousands of years ago, the ancient Chinese ancestors had already domesticated wild mulberry silkworms into silkworms, and then invented silk reeling and silk weaving techniques to establish a primitive silk weaving industry.
By the second century BC, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian on an envoy to the Western Regions, opening up the famous "Silk Road" in history, and the Han Dynasty costume system was established. From crown clothes to hair ornaments, from silk brocade to yarn, the clothing system with Han cultural characteristics has gradually formed, and a beautiful journey has begun in the Yangyang Han style.
When we wear comfortable leather shoes to important social events, can you imagine that the Han Dynasty has begun to make and wear leather shoes? The Dunhuang Hanging Spring Leather Shoes from the Gansu Jianmu Museum, excavated from the Hanging Spring Site in Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, are the earliest leather shoes excavated by mainland archaeology. From the perspective of sewing methods, the technology at that time was very close to the modern ordinary handmade leather shoes process.
Hunting Tujin "Fang Qi" Sixteen Kingdoms Period - Sui Dynasty Yanchi County Museum Photo: Zhang Yuteng
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Southern Silk Road, henan province of the Northern Silk Road, starting from Chengdu, flourished. Costume cultures from different regions and different nationalities competed on the Silk Road, constituting the main theme of multicultural integration. During this period, tuguhuns, guizi, great Qin and other ancient countries in the western region, xianbei, qiang, xenon and other ethnic minorities lived in a staggered mixed, and the characteristics of the costumes of various ethnic groups were blended and intertwined, forming a unique fashion of unbridled and unsculpted.
On display is a hunting tujin "Fang Qi", whose ornamentation has a distinctly extraterritorial style. Hunting warriors have the characteristics of nomadic people, winged lions are the artistic factors of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty, and the outer frame dragon pattern is a representative of traditional Chinese ornaments, so this "Fangqi" has become a historical "witness" of cultural integration and cultural exchange on the Silk Road.
The Tang Dynasty has launched the most splendid and dazzling chapter in ancient China, and the costumes of the Tang Dynasty have inherited the winds of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the beauty of the countries along the Silk Road has profoundly affected the development of costumes in East Asia, achieving the reputation of the Chinese nation as the "Kingdom of Clothing and Crowns", and leaving a strong mark in Chinese history.
Dunhuang hanging spring leather shoes
The tortoiseshell pattern woven gold brocade belt from the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology is a national first-class cultural relic and the earliest gold-filled fabric found in China. The pattern consists of a neat arrangement of tortoiseshell-like hexagons with six petals and small flowers on the inside, with sheets of gold beaten into gold leaf and then cut into pieces of gold thread woven into the fabric.
From makeup to clothing, from accessories to wear, the cultural characteristics of Tang Dynasty costumes are vividly displayed in clothing, and through them, it seems to see the glorious and beautiful Huazhang prosperous world.
Looking back at the Silk Road, from the technological innovation of hand-cranked spinning wheels to bouquet jacquard machines, from the continuous attempts of twill weft brocade to gold-added fabrics, from the pleated crotches of pants that integrate the cultures of the North and the South, to the openness and compatibility of the unique fashion of "women wearing men's clothing" in the Tang Dynasty... Chinese costumes have been evolving and transforming, being inclusive and developing a more diversified spiritual core.
Immersive exhibition viewing experience
Immersive viewing
"Walk" into the Dunhuang story painting
Affected by the epidemic in Xi'an, some exhibits from Shaanxi had to be postponed. To this end, the exhibition specially launched immersive historical images, bringing everyone a unique viewing experience, and becoming the most beautiful punch card place for many audiences to take photos.
In the center of the exhibition hall, a number of projectors reflect the map frames overlapping and overlapping, reflecting on the curved wall in front, and the images reproduce the exquisite story paintings of Dunhuang, the images of painted figures, the animal head pattern brocade excavated from the Loulan site in Xinjiang, and the various colored embroidery from the Niya site... The flashes of light are like walking into history alone, personally experiencing the changes and changes of Yangyang Chinese costume culture.
Painted black figurines Tang Gyeongseong County Museum
The exhibition is jointly guided by the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, the Propaganda Department of the Chengdu Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism (Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics), and is fully supported by the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center and the Beijing Institute of Fashion. The exhibition is free to the public, while outlining the gorgeous picture of the Chinese national costumes, it also opens up a new era of "clothing kingdom" for the audience.