preface
The Yuan Dynasty was a grand unified dynasty established by Mongol rulers in Chinese history to coexist with multiple ethnic groups. The unique political environment, economic form, and cultural pattern of the Yuan Dynasty society shaped the face of clothing culture.
The Liangdu patrol system made the national sacrifices of the Yuan Dynasty have prominent nomadic cultural factors, showing the "duality" characteristics of the Han system and Mongolian customs.
The imperial statue of the empress used to worship ancestors also reflects distinctive Mengyuan characteristics in the application field, specification size, and painting process.
The imperial appearance of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty in the old Tibetan Yuan Dynasty of Nanxun Hall is the product of the unique sacrificial culture of the period, and it has a high degree of realism.
Examine the fifteen orderly portraits of the queen, all of whom are Mongolian and dressed in the same way as Mongolian and Han fusions.
The Yuan Dynasty is a special historical period, which inherited the Song and Jin dynasties and the Ming and Qing dynasties, which had a major impact on Chinese history and social development, and was an important part of Chinese history and culture, and had a position that cannot be ignored.
And the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty were ethnic minority Mongols, and before they entered the Central Plains, they always maintained their own set of inherent production and lifestyle, and their clothing aesthetics were also different from the style of praise and clothing that the Han people had always respected.
However, after the Mongols entered the Central Plains, they blended, exchanged and collided with various ethnic cultures and Western Regions cultures, so that the costumes of the Yuan Dynasty integrated grassland nomadic culture, Central Plains agricultural culture and extraterritorial culture, surpassing the traditional conventions of the Tang Dynasty such as Han clothing as the main costume, and presenting distinctive national characteristics.
First, the context and functional meaning of the existence of the imperial image in the Yuan Dynasty
Compared with the Tang and Song dynasties, the Yuan dynasty imperial appearance is different in aesthetic taste and artistic expression, showing unprecedented creativity and diversity.
The changes around the imperial statues of the Yuan Dynasty can not only glimpse the unique etiquette ideas of the Yuan Dynasty formed in the exchange and collision between the nomadic culture of the grassland and the farming culture of the Central Plains in the context of this era, but also show the unique way of ancestor worship and ancestor worship culture of the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Yuan Dynasty, in order to meet their own needs, the rulers also widely recruited and set up special institutions to centrally manage the craftsmen from the Western Regions, reflecting the great demand of the nobles for weaving gold brocade.
Examples of the extensive use of gold brocades and retrospective gemstones by royal family members such as emperors and empresses can be seen in existing objects and portraits handed down from generation to generation.
In addition, the style of extravagance prevailing in the court was bound to be imitated by the common people, but Nashi was still out of reach of ordinary people, so the people often used substitutes such as gold satin to satisfy their admiration, but the Yuan government at that time also frequently issued decrees to prohibit such upward and downward transgressions.
The prosperity of commerce in the Yuan Dynasty not only satisfied the royal family's pursuit of luxury, but also gave people from all walks of life the power to follow the fashion of the upper class with their personal wealth, and the clothing of the Yuan Dynasty showed a more vigorous and diversified development trend under the impetus of mercantilism.
The diverse cultures of the Central Plains, Western Regions, Goryeo and other places have been widely spread and developed throughout China. In the face of the impact of foreign culture, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty always maintained an open and inclusive attitude, and actively pursued cultural policies that absorbed the essence of various ethnic cultures.
Whether in terms of religious beliefs, academic, artistic, and ideological fields, the Yuan government treats all equally.
In a sense, it can be said that the idea of "one family under the world" in the Yuan Dynasty surpasses any dynasty in history, fully demonstrating the cultural spirit of the Great Yuan Dynasty.
The Yuan Dynasty formed a diverse, open and eclectic cultural pattern in the process of mutual exchange and reference, which had a substantial impact on many civilizations in the Yuan Dynasty, and clothing was one of them.
As a symbol of national identity, clothing is the first to show signs of the integration of different cultures, and the costumes of the Yuan Dynasty have formed a clothing culture that is completely different from previous dynasties and has Mongolian Yuan characteristics in the process of cross-cultural exchange.
First of all, the Mongolian aristocratic clothing of the Yuan Dynasty was deeply influenced by the Central Plains culture, and it can be said that the Central Plains culture laid the basic trend of the development of clothing in the Yuan Dynasty.
Based on the political marriage relationship between the Yuan Dynasty and Goryeo, the two countries have always been friendly with each other and maintained a peaceful exchange, which not only laid a good foundation for the exchange of cultural traditions and living customs between the two countries, but also provided sufficient guarantee for the spread of Goryeo costume culture in the Yuan Dynasty.
Facts have proved that Yuan Dynasty clothing has three basic characteristics of pluralistic openness, two-way interaction and national subjectivity in the process of mutual communication with other surrounding cultures, and it is in this exchange and interaction that Yuan Dynasty clothing has been continuously enriched and developed, showing a variety of colorful aesthetic tendencies.
The actual soil of social life, political environment, economic form, cultural pattern and other factors in the Yuan Dynasty all had a substantial impact on the generation and development of clothing in the Yuan Dynasty.
Its political environment of the parallel Han system and Mongolian customs made the costumes of the Yuan Dynasty strive to maintain their own national colors while implementing Han law with reference to the system of the Tang and Song dynasties, and implement the "dual-track system" of Han crown clothing and Mongolian costumes in parallel; Its open and vigorous economic form promoted the development of many industries in clothing in the Yuan Dynasty, and greatly met the needs of the royal family and aristocracy of the Yuan Dynasty to follow fashion and decorate their own clothing.
Its inclusive cultural pattern makes Yuan Dynasty clothing form a clothing culture that is completely different from previous dynasties and has the characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty in the process of cross-cultural exchange, and it is in this exchange and interaction that Yuan Dynasty clothing has been continuously enriched and developed, showing a variety of aesthetic tendencies.
The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty also created a new type of national territorial spatial structure, and implemented the two-capital patrol system, the establishment of which had a certain impact on the formulation of the national sacrifice system, so that the Yuan Dynasty sacrifice culture always had a clear sense of national identity, showing the "duality" characteristics of Mongolian-Han and nomadic-farming.
The application field and size of the imperial statue used for sacrifice and commemoration of ancestors have also changed due to the establishment of the system, such as large imperial statues are not convenient to carry on the cruise, so small imperial statues came into being.
These statues are carefully crafted by a strictly controlled production agency and photo masters, and their authenticity makes the worshippers feel reverent.
In addition, the production method of the imperial appearance image in the Yuan Dynasty was also created on the basis of the previous generation, in addition to the expression of the imperial appearance based on "painting", it also created a unique imperial appearance production method "weaving the imperial appearance" of the Mengyuan Dynasty, which made the presentation of the imperial appearance image more rich and diverse.
Second, the queen seen in the imperial appearance is the first to wear a poppy crown
From the imperial portraits of the fifteen empresses from the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty to the empress of Yuanningzong, it can be seen that the crown and hat system of the empress of the Yuan Dynasty still shows a certain stability and continuity after more than 70 years of development and evolution, and there is no lack of new changes in the times in the inheritance.
The four aspects of the crown shape, crown height, material and crown clothing of the poppy crown show the stability of inheritance, and the crown decoration and matching methods have many characteristics of the times.
The basic silhouette of the crown of the Empress of the Yuan Dynasty is a "Y-shape" with a wide upper and lower narrow. The crown and forehead are made of light red fabric.
The decorative elements of the queen's poppy crown are arranged in an orderly manner, and although the whole presents stylized characteristics, individual decorative areas are also different.
The decorative elements of the queen's crown are expressed in two types: two-sided continuous flower leaves and oval flower leaf-shaped bead flowers, the former unique to the Yuan ancestor Empress Chabi, while the latter is common to the other fourteen empresses.
In the process of changing the production and lifestyle of Mengyuan society, the queen poppy crown has formed a model of flexible matching with other functional accessories.
The image of the imperial appearance reflects the evolution pattern of the empress matching the crown with the forehead after entering the Central Plains.
Third, the imperial appearance is like the queen's body robe and large-sleeved robe as seen
The Yuan Dynasty empress dress was the supreme point of the Mongolian noble women's dress system, and there was only one type, the large-sleeved robe, which was used for ceremonial occasions such as sacrifices and banquets.
There was no obvious difference between the queen class and the lower aristocracy in the overall silhouette of the robe, but there was a significant hierarchical distinction in terms of material, color, pattern and so on.
Unlike the emperor's Han-Mongolian dual-track uniform, the empress dress has distinct Mongolian characteristics. However, in order to highlight the need for the legitimacy of imperial power, it also shows the cultural characteristics of Han and Mongolian integration.
As far as the shape of the large-sleeved robe is concerned, its styling features such as the right collar, wide clothing style, and wide sleeve body meet the solemn and serious etiquette requirements of Confucianism.
The extremely tight design at the cuffs retains the characteristics of the narrow sleeves of the beard, making the robe more fit.
The queen has a noble status, and the dress is the most luxurious and grand. The large-sleeved robe is mostly made of large red woven gold "entwined cloud dragon" material, and a few are made of naishi loss, or pearl jade decoration and gold emerald depiction. The entwined dragon pattern is also the highest rank in the dragon robe of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.
Large-sleeved robes are mostly red. The collar and sleeve trim of the queen's robe are characterized by a stylized layout of three fabrics juxtaposed, and each fabric has a different pattern.
The wide collar is decorated with two decorative patterns: large or small flowers. Other aristocratic women's dresses were less luxurious than royalty.
In relatively casual occasions, there will be other types of clothing for the queen to wear, such as the queen's regular costume Hai Qing Yi. It has a right collar, narrow sleeves, and an armpit opening, and its light and neat shape, which is different from the style of the queen's formal dress with large sleeves.
Fourth, the cultural significance of the costume image of the empress in the Yuan Dynasty
The shape of the empress dress of the Yuan Dynasty has always been based on the traditional culture of the Mongolian people, adhering to the demonstration image of national characteristics, showing a distinct sense of national identity. The reason for this is closely related to the particularity of the historical development of the Yuan Dynasty.
Under the impact of the multicultural wave, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty clearly understood the importance and necessity of preserving the old customs of the Mongols in the lessons of the comprehensive sinicization of the Jin Dynasty and the loss of national identity.
Therefore, not only in the actual ceremonial scene, the queen's dress has become a clear symbol to display the clan of the regime, but also makes full use of the realistic visual medium of the queen's imperial appearance, and constructs a "schema image" with strong national cultural characteristics to achieve the political purpose of declaring ethnic distinction and public opinion guidance.
However, in addition to the Mongolian paradigm, the formal characteristics such as "wide body and wide sleeves" and "cross-collared right" reflect the acceptance and inheritance of the orthodox clothing concept of the Han people in the ruling environment of the Central Plains.
The characteristics of the dual culture of "Han system and Mongolian customs" in the image of the empress dress of the Yuan Dynasty reflect the political intention of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty to judge the time and size up the situation and establish and consolidate the legitimacy of their own regime.
Not only that, as far as the shaping of the personal costumes of the empresses in the imperial portrait is concerned, its significance is quite profound.
Although the image of the fifteen queens has a stylized tendency, they have ulterior motives in the shaping of details.
The "schema" of Empress Kublai Khan's clothing is unique and distinctive. This "meaningful form" displayed by the imperial statue is closely related to Empress Chabi's wise support to Kublai Khan's regime and her prominent position in the Yuan court.
Under the supervision of the state, the imperial beauty manufacturing deliberately flaunted the prominent status of Empress Chabi as "one and the greatest", established a model image of her generation of virtuous queens, and highlighted the media value of image language using clothing as the carrier to show personal power and distinguish identities under the manipulation of the national will.
summary
The Yuan Dynasty was a unified era of multi-ethnic integration in Chinese history, and its political environment of Han system and Mongolian and customs, open and vigorous economic form and cultural pattern that included all sides created a prosperous era of cultural exchanges between China and the West, and Yuan Dynasty clothing occurred and developed in such an era context, and became the best witness of the social changes and changes of the times in the Yuan Dynasty.
The two-capital patrol system that prevailed in the Yuan Dynasty gave national sacrifice prominent nomadic cultural factors, showing the "duality" characteristics of Han Mongolian customs.
The imperial statue of the empress used to worship ancestors also reflects the distinctive characteristics of Mengyuan in the application field, specification size, and painting and weaving process.
An examination of the fifteen imperial portraits of empresses of the Yuan Dynasty in order shows that the women depicted are all Mongolian, and their clothing is both Mongolian and Han cultural characteristics.
Throughout the Yuan Dynasty, the empress dress blended with Han and Mongolian styling style, it has always been based on Mongolian traditional culture, adhered to the demonstration image of national characteristics, and presented a distinct sense of national identity.
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