Source: Xinjiang is a good place
"Yun wants to dress and flowers to look", Tang Dynasty women's makeup is rich and colorful, reaching a peak in the history of ancient Chinese makeup. Although it is located on the frontier, the makeup of women in Xinjiang during the Tang Dynasty was also very colorful. The silk paintings of "Lady Figures" excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan, with female dance figurines, female figurines, labor figurines, etc., reproduce the colorful makeup customs of women in Xinjiang in the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, women's makeup in Xinjiang can generally be divided into several steps such as thrush, red makeup, appliqué tin, dot face, oblique red, and lip grease.
01
Thrush
Eyebrows are an important part of people's expression of feelings, and the ancient history of eyebrow decoration in Xinjiang has a long history, and in the early days, eyebrows were depicted by grinding powder with stone pens or burning charcoal strips with branches. Archaeologists found the dry body of an elderly woman in the tomb of Zarouk in Zhimu County, 2800 years ago, and on her face we can see that her eyebrows are like willow leaves and black as the first description. Archaeologists have also found eyebrow stones and stone eyebrow pencils for eyebrow drawing in the 2,500-year-old tomb of Subeixi in Shanshan County, the ancient tomb of Baozidong in Wensu County in the Han Dynasty, and the ancient tomb of Shanpu in Luopu County, indicating that the tradition of eyebrow painting in Xinjiang is very long. In the Tang Dynasty, due to the promotion of the rulers, the custom of thrush became increasingly popular. In such a cultural context, women in Xinjiang also attach great importance to the modification of eyebrows.
Working women figurines
Xinjiang Museum collection of Turpan City Astana tomb excavated a group of working women figurines eyebrows are very unique, slender and curved eyebrows, and Xinjiang Guizi Grottoes murals in the donor, flying sky, bodhisattva and other figures of the eyebrows are very similar, now hidden in Japan unearthed in Turpan Tuyugou tomb in a silk painting of the "Music and Dance Girl" silk painting is also slender willow leaf eyebrows, the early Tang Dynasty poet Lu Zhaolin "Chang'an Ancient Meaning" in the poem "Slender First Moon Crow Yellow" described is a kind of eyebrow shape like the crescent moon.
"Chess Diagram" (left); Painted silk dancing figurines (right)
In the "Chess Diagram" excavated from the tomb of Astana, the eyebrow shape of the noblewoman who was playing chess was depicted black and wide, reflecting the fashion of depicting wide eyebrows at that time. The eyebrow shape of the painted silk dancing figurine unearthed from Tomb No. 206 of Astana is different, basically in the shape of a "one", dense, flat, concise, wide and narrow, which shows that the makeup of Turpan women on eyebrows at that time was also meticulous, adding a bit of femininity.
02
Red makeup
Some researchers believe that rouge is made of "red and blue" flowers, and its petals have red pigment, which is an ideal cosmetic for western residents who like red makeup. Archaeologists found red pigments used for makeup during the Han and Jin dynasties in the ancient tomb of Niya in Minfeng County. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, women in Xinjiang still liked red makeup, and there was "Gao Changzhang and the Eighteenth Year (548 AD) Guangfei Burial Clothes Loose" excavated from Tomb 170 in Astana, Turpan... Rouge, Hu Powder, Qing Dai, Mo Dai" and other things. By the Tang Dynasty, women's preference for red makeup in Xinjiang remained undiminished. For example, several working women figurines excavated from Tomb 206 of Astana, the white face seems to be covered with rouge, the red makeup is round, and the effect of red makeup is very obvious. The noblewoman who was playing chess in the "Yiqi Diagram" unearthed from the ancient tomb of Astana is like a peach blossom, ruddy and idyllic, reflecting the custom of women in Xinjiang in the Tang Dynasty to apply red makeup.
03
Flower tin
"Two Ladies"
The flower tin is a kind of forehead ornament, usually made of colored paper, fish scales, gold leaf, silk and other materials cut into patterns. The shapes of the flowers are diverse, including peach blossom shape, plum blossom shape, diamond shape, treasure phase flower shape, circle, etc., and the colors are mostly red, yellow, green and so on. Among them, the most exciting is a kind of "jade tin", which is made of various kingfisher feathers, and the whole ornament is turquoise, fresh and chic, and very interesting. The women's costumes in the silk painting of the screen painting "Two Ladies Figure" excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana are gorgeous, dignified in shape, elegant in temperament, and the emerald green diamond-shaped flowers pasted between the foreheads are very eye-catching.
Painted wooden tire silk dancing figurines
In addition, several female dancing figurines (such as painted wooden tire silk dancing figurines) excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana also have this kind of makeup between the foreheads. In the Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu's poem Zeng Yun: "Spring Yin Fluttering Cuidian"; Wen Tingjun's poem also has "Cuidian between the eyebrows", which shows that the green flower tin of the cloud in the Tang Dynasty poetry did exist in Xinjiang and was very popular among women in Xizhou (present-day Turpan).
04
Forehead yellow
"The Handmaid"
Women's painting of yellow powder on their foreheads was also a popular type of makeup among women in Xinjiang during the Tang Dynasty. This is a way of makeup that emerged during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The famous Northern Dynasty Lefu folk song "Mulan Ci" wrote: "When the window is clear, the mirror is yellow." In the Tang Dynasty silk painting "Handmaid's Picture" excavated from the tuyugou tomb in Turpan mentioned above, the protagonist wears a lapel-collared gold brocade narrow-sleeved costume, combs his hair in a towering bun, and the yellow halo depicted on his forehead is clearly visible.
05
Oblique red
The screen painting "Double Lady Figure" excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan depicts the ladies and dancers in silk paintings and painted female dancers, and there is also a very special face decoration on the face, that is, a red curved crescent shape is drawn on the woman's temple part, and some are also deliberately depicted as broken, as if two scars are added next to the white face, this makeup is called "oblique red". It may seem very peculiar today, but in the Tang Dynasty it was a very fashionable makeup. Tang Dynasty poet Luo Qiuyun: "A touch of thick red face oblique, makeup into a silent solo climbing flower", Yuan Shu's "Mo painting long eyebrows, short eyebrows, oblique red wounds vertical Mo wounds hanging", said this kind of makeup. The slanted red can be clearly seen on the face of the painted silk dancing figurine unearthed from Tomb 206 in Astana, Turpan. However, since the late Tang Dynasty, this kind of face makeup has gradually disappeared.
06
Face
Also known as "make-up", it is a kind of makeup applied to the dimples of the cheeks. According to research, as early as the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains had a bit of a facetious habit. During the Tang Dynasty, this kind of makeup was introduced to Xinjiang, and several female figurines excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan were painted with this makeup on their faces. For example, the painted wooden tire silk dance figurine unearthed from Tomb No. 206 of Astana, with diamond-shaped flowers pasted between the foreheads, the cheeks smeared with red, and the beautiful cheek dots decorated with red dots the size of soybeans, look particularly moving.
07
Dot lips
In the silk painting "Figure of a Couple of Ladies" and female dancing figurines excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan, we can see that the mouth shape of xinjiang women in the Tang Dynasty is very petite, reflecting the aesthetic taste of women at that time. This is similar to the aesthetic standards of the Central Plains at that time, just like Baiju Yi Shiyun: "Cherry Fan Sukou, Willow Small Wild Waist". The lip fat of ancient Chinese women is Dan, "Dan" is cinnabar, which is the main raw material of lip fat used by ancient women's makeup lips. The ancients added appropriate animal fat paste to Dan to make it waterproof. The maids standing in the "Double Lady Figure" excavated from the ancient tomb of Astana in Turpan have their lips painted in the shape of trembling flowers, and the upper and lower lips are saddle-shaped, like four petals, which are extremely dynamic and fresh and lovely.
In summary, the women in the Xinjiang region of the Tang Dynasty had colorful makeup, which was deeply influenced by the Central Plains, and also reflected the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty's social economy, politics and culture, and the open atmosphere gave women unprecedented tolerance.
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