Brocade is the most valuable of the ancient Chinese silk category, representing the highest level of classical silk weaving technology system, at the same time, its pattern changes are also very rich, the pattern theme truly reflects the fashion trend of the society at that time.
This paper takes a fragment of brocade sleeves from the Han and Jin dynasties collected by the China Silk Museum as the research object, analyzes it from several aspects such as craftsmanship and patterns, and discusses the influence of the "coffin decoration lianbi" system on the design of brocade patterns at that time under the popularity of immortal thought, combined with relevant objects, documents and image materials.
▲ Fig. 1 Tapestry sleeve fragments
The China Silk Museum has a fragment of brocade sleeves from the Han and Jin dynasties (collection no. 3624, Figure 1), collected from northwest China, which was supposed to be part of a brocade garment, but is now broken and has been exhibited in the exhibitions "Jinshang Hufeng - Western Influences on silk road Wei and Tang textiles" and "Jincheng - Chinese Silk and silk road".
The fragment is made up of two pieces of brocade fragments stitched together, one of which is Lian Bi Brocade, from which this article tries to analyze the influence of the "coffin decoration Lian Bi" system on the design of brocade patterns at that time under the popularity of immortal thought through a comprehensive study of Lian Bi Brocade popular in the Han and Jin Dynasties, and its spread through the Silk Road.
▲ Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the organizational structure of jingjin
First, the production process and pattern of brocade sleeve fragments
The fragment of this brocade sleeve is 25.5cm long and 17cm at its widest point, which is made up of two pieces of fabric stitched on the left and right, of which the right side of the fabric is larger and trapezoidal, and from its fracture, it should have been the body part; The left side is smaller, with a more regular rectangle, and the other end is folded and stitched, which should be the cuff part.
Both pieces of fabric are brocade fabrics, which are the most valuable of the ancient Chinese silk fabrics, because the production process is very complex, so "its price is like gold", in ancient times " only the Venerable obeyed". Most of the early brocades were made of warp thread flowers, using 1/1 plain weave re-organized brocade (Figure 2), like the brocade excavated from the Western Zhou Cemetery in Chaoyang, Liaoning, and the Andong Zhou Tomb in Jing' Andong, Jiangxi, which belonged to this category, and its prosperity was in the Warring States Qin and Han Dynasties, and continued until the early Tang Dynasty.
These two fabrics are also made of this kind of plain warp restructure, in which the left side of the brocade is made of brown warp threads, and the beige, blue and green colors are flowered on it, which is 1:2 flat warp brocade, that is, in the same area, there is a set of warp lines above the weft, and two sets of warp lines are below the weft; On the right, the "Old Man" brocade is made of dark blue warp threads, and the brown-red, green, beige, yellow and other color warp threads show flowers, which is a 1:4 plain pattern warp brocade. At the same time, in order to enrich the pattern, this brocade is also woven with orange warp threads in parts, so that the surface of the fabric produces a rain effect.
The motifs of these two brocade fabrics are also very characteristic of the times, and they are based on various beasts, immortals and inscriptions as the theme to express the yearning for immortality, immortality and shade and descendants. Among them, the "old man" brocade on the right side has local wear, and the part seen is based on the cloud gas pattern as the skeleton, and the cloud gas is continuous, and the local shape of the rock is presented, so it is also called "mountain cloud".
Between the clouds and air patterns are dotted with various divine beasts, and from the remaining parts, these divine beasts are symmetrically distributed along the central axis of the fabric, from the inside to the outside: birds, seated feathers, two evil repellents and unicorns. There are also inscriptions woven among these sacred beasts, and what has been preserved are the words "Elder Brother Mao of the Elder and the Elder And the Elder and
The same brocade is also found on a robe excavated from the 95MNIM1 tomb at the Niya site in Xinjiang, which uses the same organizational structure and pattern as this brocade, but the inscription is more complete, which reads "Brother Mao Sheng Shou Wuji of the second son of the elderly elder of Grace" (Fig. 4). The brocade of this pattern was discussed in detail in the Humble Text" "Appreciation of the "Grace" Brocade of the Han and Jin Dynasties"[1], so it will not be expanded here.
▲ Fig. 3 "The age of the big man" brocade
▲ Figure 4 "Enze under the age of the big man" Jin part, Han Jin, Xinjiang Niya site excavated
▲ Fig. 5 Pattern restoration
The Left Lian Bi Brocade is composed of a diamond-shaped skeleton with slender straps, and the diamond grid is filled with different pattern themes, the pattern cycles in the direction of the warp line, the direction of the weft line does not cycle, and each group of patterns in the diamond grid is mirrored and symmetrical (Figure 5). Judging from the remaining parts, from top to bottom, the pattern of the upper part of the first row of diamond grids is missing, and there is now a pair of tigers standing opposite each other, with a strong body, long wings on their backs, and an inscription with the word "Yi" woven on the lower part of the tail.
The White Tiger was regarded as the Western god of the Four Spirits in the Han Dynasty, and the "Customs and Customs" cloud "Tiger, Yang, the chief of the hundred beasts, can fight and frustrate, eat ghosts and ghosts", is a symbol of might, is considered to be able to ward off evil spirits, so it can often be seen on the tomb door of the Han Dynasty portrait stone tomb or the tomb beam; In the second row of diamond grids is a flower platform, a flower grows on each side of the flower platform, and a person on the stage sits with his hands in his hands, with wings on both shoulders, a flame-like backlight on the back, and an inscription on it, which is more difficult to identify (Figure 6).
The Deyi descendants unearthed by Niya have a similar figure on it, with a daisheng on their head, which is believed to be the Queen Mother of the West who lived in the Kunlun Hills mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Fig. 7).
Although the character in this piece of Even Bi Jin did not wear a victory on his head, it is not certain whether it is also the Queen Mother of the West, but judging from its long wings, it is at least a figure of the category of immortals, Wang Chong's "On Balance" contains "the shape of the figure immortal, the body is hairy, the arm becomes a wing, and the walking in the clouds increases year by year, and Chitose does not die."
Han Dynasty immortal thought prevailed, people believe that mortals to get rid of life and death, cultivation of immortals must go through the stage of feathering, the so-called "middle birth hair feather, eventually soaring", so the Han Dynasty tomb murals also have a large number of feathers to guide the dragon to ascend; In the third row, a pair of four-clawed beasts standing opposite each other, with long horns on their heads, spots on their bodies, tails bent and upturned, as a look back, there is a flower tree between the two beasts; In the fourth row of diamond grids are another pair of four-clawed animals, slender and curved, possibly dragon-like animals, with inscriptions on the word "horse" woven on the lower part of their tails.
The fifth row of rhombus retains only a part, and the upper part is a flower and leaf pattern, which should be part of the flower tree, and under it there is a pair of opposite birds with long necks hanging low. It is worth noting that rings are worn at the intersection of the thin bands that make up the diamond-shaped skeleton, one row is larger and the other row is smaller, and there are obvious dot decorations on them (Figure 8), which should be represented by The Gu Bi class.
The so-called "Gu Bi" is the grain pattern bi, its bi face is decorated with many small milk cubes arranged in an orderly manner, which looks like a millet grain (Figure 9), "Zhou Li Chunguan Dianrui" Zheng Zhuyun "Gu, Shanye, its ornament Ruo Su Wenran", millet is one of the five grains, so it got its name [3], so this kind of brocade should be written in the history books and popular in the Han and Jin Dynasties.
▲ Figure 10 Lian Bi on the animal pattern brocade, in 40 AD, the tomb of Palmyrak Totta in Syria was excavated
Second, the popular Lian Bijin during the Han and Jin Dynasties
The term "Lian Bi Jin" is often found in history books, and the Wei Wen Emperor Cao Pi of the Three Kingdoms period mentioned in the "Discussion on the Book of Shu Jin with the Qunchen": "Since I have woven the Ruyi Tiger Head Lian Bi Jin, there are also gold thin and Shu thin to Luoyi, all of which are evil." "I think that the quality of the "Ruyi Tiger Head Lianbi Brocade" he woven by himself is so good that even the world-famous Shu Brocade cannot be compared; The poetry collection "Yutai Xinyong" includes the "Children's Poems" of Xiao Gang, the Emperor Jianwen of the Southern Dynasty Liang Dynasty, which also has the sentence "Sleeves are cut with brocade, and the fine flowers are woven", which uses the beauty of the brocade to set off the style of beautiful teenagers.
Lian Bijin can also be seen in the physical objects excavated along the Silk Road, its age is mainly concentrated in the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, from the composition point of view, it can be divided into two categories: one is similar to the Lian Bi brocade on this piece of brocade fragments, with ribbons and Gu Bi composed of a connected pattern skeleton, which is filled with a variety of Rui animal patterns, the most typical is the Lian Bi pair of animal pattern brocade excavated at the end of the 20th century in the Palmy Laktot (Kitot) pagoda tomb, there are two pieces, and its decoration at the intersection of the thin belt of Gu Bi is also arranged in two kinds of intervals of size. In the middle of the diamond grid are a pair of animals looking back, most likely dragons, with a vertical stripe between the animals, resembling cirrus clouds and flowering vines (Figure 10).
The tomb has a clear chronology, 40 AD (that is, the sixteenth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty Guangwu Emperor Jianwu), from the perspective of weaving technology, it is a typical Chinese brocade fabric, so researchers believe that they were made in China and exported to the ancient city of Palmyra, an important town on the Silk Road, through trade and other means[4].
▲ Figure 11 Ling Ge to ward off evil spirits Lian Bi Jin, Han Jin, private collection
▲ Figure 12 Pattern restoration
▲ Figure 13 Yunlu Lian Bijin, Eastern Han Dynasty, private collection
Another type of Lian bi brocade seen in the physical object is composed of animal faces and gu bi, and the patterns are relatively independent of each other, and there is no connected skeleton, typical examples such as the Daidi Ring Bi Animal Pattern Brocade excavated from the Pulu Cemetery in Luopu Mountain, Xinjiang (Figure 14).
Located in the Hotan Oasis, which belongs to the ancient Khotanese region of the Southern Silk Road, this piece of brocade is also woven using the typical Han Chinese brocade weaving process, the nearest edge seems to be a deer, four feet standing on the ground, the left side of the deer is arranged in a theme pattern of a valley bi and an animal face, and the ribbon pattern is woven with blue and brown warp threads on the valley bi, which seems to be unconnected, and between the patterns is a rough swirling cirrus cloud [5].
Animal face as a silk pattern as early as the Yin Shang period embroidery has appeared, the Han Dynasty History Tour "Urgent Article" mentioned that the brocade pattern at that time had a "leopard head", Yan Shigu believed that "leopard head, if the beast head brocade today", therefore, such brocade may be closer to Cao Pi said "tiger head even Bi Brocade".
▲ Figure 14 Excavated from the Tomb of Shanpu in Xinjiang, the Animal Pattern Brocade of the Ring Ofi, Han Jin, and Xinjiang
Third, the popularity and influence of the coffin decoration system
The popularity of Lian Bijin has its social background, during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the immortal doctrine derived from Taoism and Jingchu witchcraft was very popular, whether it was the imperial nobility or the general commoners, they all hoped that they could prolong their life, live forever, and even bless their children and grandchildren with a long life, and after death, the soul could enter heaven or ascend to heaven.
In order to achieve this goal, they used various ornaments in their lives, arranging the residence or burial chamber into a fairyland of clouds or beasts in anticipation of the arrival of the gods, and the coffin decoration system is the embodiment of this pursuit of the idea of the ascension of the soul after death.
Although the system of ornamentation or lianbi is not found in the direct records of the book of rites, it is found in the zishu, such as in the Zhuangzi: "Zhuangzi will die, and the disciples want to bury him." Zhuang Zi said: 'I take heaven and earth as the coffin, and the sun and the moon as the continuous bi... Aren't I prepared for evil?'" That's what it says. The Han Dynasty continued to use this system, and the Later Han Shu Andu Fu Zhi (後汉書) states: "The large line of vehicles, its decorations are like golden root cars, and the four corners of the Jiashi Lianbi are intertwined." The Book of Continued Han and The Chronicle of Etiquette reads: "The Examination Worker Orders the Secret Instrument of the East Garden." ...... Painting the sun, the moon, the bird, the rabbit, the dragon and the tiger, the Lian Bi, the yanyue, and the tooth juniper zigong as the story. ”
Recent archaeological excavations have also confirmed that this custom of coffin decoration was very common from the Warring States to the Han Dynasty, such as hanging a piece of jade bi on the east baffle of the inner coffin of Chu Tomb No. 2 in Jingmen Baoshan, Hubei Province, and the group belt was broken at the time of excavation, and the jade bi fell off on the bottom plate of the middle coffin [6]; The inner coffin roof plate of the tomb of Liu Xu, the King of Guangling in the Western Han Dynasty of Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province, is inlaid with a piece of Xuanbi in the outer center, and the middle hole is fixed with copper bubble nails, and there are three silk ribbons on the inner button of the bubble nail, indicating that Xuan Bi is bound to the inner coffin bezel with bubble nails and ribbons[7]; There are also absurd draperies made of lianbi that cover the coffin, such as the absurd drapery on the top of the coffin in the M2 of the Jiuliandun Chu Tomb in Zaoyang, Hubei Province, with 124 pieces of jade bi, which are connected by brown-red ribbons according to the "meter" grid [8].
At the same time, this custom also spread to the Western Regions through the Silk Road, such as a painted coffin plate from the Han and Jin Dynasties excavated in 2003 at the Le Mural Tomb in the North of Loulan Ancient City, Ruoqiang County, forming a ribbon with flower spikes to form a diamond-shaped skeleton, and the jade wall where the ribbons intersect is worn, and the diamond grid is filled with flowing clouds (Figure 15).
▲ Figure 15 Painted coffin plate, Han Jin, Xinjiang Loulan LE mural tomb excavated
Why was the coffin decoration system so popular at that time? This is because in the hearts of the Qin and Han people, Yubi is the symbol of the Gate of Heaven, such as the Jianzhang Palace, which is the "by-product of sealing Zen and Seeking Immortals" of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, "there are Jade Hall and Bi Gate in the south", and "Justice" quotes "The Story of Han Wu" "The Twelve Doors of the Inner Temple of Yubi ... According to the "Three Auxiliary Yellow Maps", the main gate (south gate) of Jianzhang Palace is named "闾闾", also known as BiMen.
The original meaning of 阖闾 is "Heaven's Gate", such as the "Huainan Zi" cloud "Pai Lu Lu, Fallen Heaven's Gate", and the high temptation "阖闾, the gate of ascension to heaven also"[9], therefore, decorating the coffin with a continuous bi is conducive to the deceased's soul ascending to immortality and rebirth through the Heavenly Gate symbolized by the jade bi.
And more clearly stated that Bi is the ascension passage is a series of gilded bronze medals unearthed in Sichuan, Chongqing, Gansu and other places, the bronze medals are mostly bi-shaped, excavated at the head end of the tomb, there is a hole in the plate, and there are various bubble nails, and some of the bubble nails are also embedded in the card decorations when they are unearthed, so it is certain that these cards are nailed to the front of the coffin with bubble nails [10].
The patterns of these plaques are mostly composed of Double Que, Queen Mother of the West, Jade Bi, Birds and Beasts, Double Dragons, etc., with lush spiritual grass and auspicious clouds, forming a complete picture of heavenly beauty (Figure 16), especially the two bronze medals from the Tomb of Zi han in The Dry Ditch zi Han tomb in Dongzui, Jiangdong, Wushan, and the word "Heaven's Gate" is written on the jade bi hanging between the double que, which clearly indicates that the double que symbolizes the entrance to the celestial realm, the Heavenly Gate, and the Bi is part of the Heavenly Gate (Fig. 16-6, 7) [11].
▲ Figure 16 Gilded bronze plaques unearthed in Sichuan and other places, Han Dynasty
IV. Conclusion
As one of the important carriers reflecting social ideology, the design of silk patterns will inevitably be influenced by the whole society's admiration for the immortal world and the desire to attain the atmosphere of ascending the immortals, so there have been a large number of cloud qi animal pattern brocades with the theme of immortals and spirits, such as the first year of the Yuan Ding (116 BC), and the Han Wu emperor who was keen on the theory of the immortals raised the Xian Ling Pavilion in the west of Ganquan Palace, "weaving Cui Yu Lin As a curtain,...... There are Xiaguang embroidery, there are algae dragon embroidery, there are even smoke embroidery, there are walking dragon brocade, there is cloud phoenix brocade, and there is a red brocade", which is used to create a fairy atmosphere, and even bi brocade should also belong to this category.
With Zhang Qian's hollowing out of the western region, the exchanges between the Central Plains and the northwest region became closer, on the one hand, a large number of tapestries produced in the Central Plains entered the northwest region of China through trade or other means, and even further west; On the other hand, the idea of immortals was also introduced to the Western Regions, as evidenced by the painted coffins unearthed in Loulan and other places.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that this kind of lianbi brocade woven using the common plain brocade technique in the Central Plains has been excavated in large quantities along the Silk Road.
Source: Silk Road Archaeology, quoted from the national public account in archaeology