Speaking of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, where the people are brilliant, we have to mention a famous and prestigious family- the Qian family; this family was first founded by Qian Mu, the king of Wuyue in the five-generation period, more than a thousand years ago; Qian Miao's thirty-three sons branched out in their respective territories and multiplied offspring; the Wuxi Qian family is a wang family in jiangnan, and there have been Junjie in all dynasties and dynasties, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties, many politicians, writers and famous scholars have emerged; the influence of the Qian family has continued to this day; one of the representative figures is Mr. Qian Zhongshu, who is familiar with us.
In 2012, the Jiangsu Provincial Archaeological Team excavated the tomb of Qian Zhang and his wife in Wuxi Qifang Bridge, the owner of the tomb Qian Zhang (1486-1505 AD) and his wife Hua Shi (1484-1528) were important members of the Qian family in Wuxi in the middle and late Ming Dynasty; a large number of textiles were unearthed from the tomb, and the beautiful fabrics made everyone overwhelmed; experts lamented: The nobles in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were so extravagant and different! To what extent are the textiles unearthed from the tombs of the Qian couple amazing? Let's take a look!
A total of 23 pieces of relatively complete textiles were excavated from the Ming Tomb of Qifangqiao, of which 18 were jackets, skirts, pants, shoes and other clothing accessories, accounting for half of all the textiles unearthed; there were 16 textiles with pattern patterns, of which 10 were costumes; their patterns were mainly animal and plant patterns.
These are the two themes with the highest frequency of use in traditional Chinese patterns, which reached prosperity in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and were given a variety of auspicious meanings; according to statistics, the number of occurrences of plant patterns in the textile patterns excavated from the Ming Tomb of Qifangqiao accounted for 60% of the total, and animal patterns accounted for 20%, far exceeding the frequency of other theme patterns; among them, plant themes were mostly floral expressions, different varieties and forms, and the atmosphere and artistic understanding of the shaping were different;
The animal theme is the most common bird, bee butterfly; these two themes in the tomb unearthed textiles basically appear in combination, for example, in the four seasons of flowers and birds pattern skirt embroidery pattern, by the peony, lotus, chrysanthemum, plum four seasons flowers and three postures of the phoenix bird together constitute a plump and story-like four-square continuous pattern; it is worth noting that an important feature of the Chinese auspicious image in the composition is "full", people in order to achieve this "full but not crowded, empty and not empty" ideal picture effect, Therefore, it is usually superimposed with different themes of patterns, and a variety of modeling postures are derived.
For example, in the embroidery pattern of the four seasons flower and bird pattern skirt, the peony, lotus, chrysanthemum, plum four seasons flowers and the three postures of the phoenix bird together constitute a plump and storyful four-square continuous pattern; the same four-square continuous treasure flower, although the composition of the phoenix pattern elements is slightly less, but the overall picture does not leave white, it also seems that the former is complex, and retains a beautiful dynamic streamline.
The satin of the bird's latch flower is a typical organizational form in the ancient pattern, the bird and the folded branch flower are full of shape, the layout is uniform, and the fixed shape is formed; it is repeated in a two-way continuous form, emphasizing the visual sense of order.
It is worth mentioning that the textiles unearthed from the Ming Tomb of Qifangqiao are diverse in animal materials, such as the above-mentioned phoenix birds, butterfly patterns, and as well
Sycamore
The three lanes of the skirt
Skirt folds
In the main pattern of the lion, running deer pattern, as well as in the sun and moon pattern embroidered satin back pocket on both sides, in the form of a separate pattern of the three-legged crow and jade rabbit pattern, the so-called "three-legged crow", it is the "crow" in the middle of the sun, its legend has been circulating since ancient times; experts believe that the three-legged crow is the mythological explanation of the sunspot.
The textiles excavated from the tombs of the Qian couple in Wuxi, the pattern themes are extracted from Buddhism, exotic cultures, folk customs, myths and legends, etc.; the wide range of materials reflects the high tolerance and compatibility of multiculturalism in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and the exquisite combination and form depiction are the embodiment of the developed weaving technology and artistic aesthetics in Jiangnan; at the same time, it also confirms the social life trend of seeking luxury and seeking differences in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
[References: Ming and Qing Culture" "Archaeology", "Qian Family"]