Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum

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WOVEN FABRICS: PLAIN AND DECORATED
Woven fabrics may be plain, subtly patterned, or sumptuously
adorned, depending on the method used to manufacture them.
Although numerous techniques have developed over time, most
fabrics are created with one of three basic
weaves: plain (or tabby), twill, and satin.
Plain weave, being the simplest, involves
only interlacing the warp (longitudinal)
threads with the weft (transverse) threads
in a regular over-and-under sequence. The
fabric produced has an even and firm structure
identical on both faces. Since ancient
times hemp, linen, and cotton have been
woven mostly in this simple and fast manner,
for practical and economic reasons.
Over the years, weavers learned
that by varying the interlacing sequence
of the warp and weft threads and the
number of strands that made up these
structural elements, floats could be created.1
Floats aligned differently would produce interesting variations,
such as twill, satin, and other float weaves. Silk, a smooth,
pliable, and lustrous fibre, has been woven mostly by these more
complex methods. These richly textured and patterned fabrics
are not only sensuous to the touch, but also much more pleasing
to the eye.
In China various kinds of simple looms were already in use
by the early Neolithic Age. Two of them, the back-strap loom
and the card loom, are still used today predominantly by ethnic
minorities.2 While the back-strap loom produces lengths of fabric
of narrow width, the card loom can only be used to weave
figured sashes. Han Chinese peasants have been using various styles
of horizontal or low-warp looms for weaving hemp and linen since
pre-Qin times. They used them for cotton ever since cotton was
extensively cultivated all over
China after the thirteenth century.3
Their products may have
narrow or wide widths. To make
figured sashes and ribbons, they
use a small and handy ribbon
loom.4 Weavers of figured silk,
on the other hand, rely on a variety of sophisticated looms to meet
the more demanding requirements. The multi-heald and multi-pedal
loom, and a patterning loom which requires two people to operate,
are some examples.5
FOUR CHARACTERS highlighted in red above the two central
figures identify them as "the venerable immortals Mei and Ge." Mei
is generally taken to mean Mei Fu, a prefect of Nanchang during
the Han dynasty. He resigned his office to roam
about in search of immortality after the country
came under the sway of the despotic usurper,
Wang Mang (45 bc-ad 23). Ge has been occasionally
identified as Ge Xuan (ad 164-244), an
alchemist, but more often as his grandson, Ge
Hong (ad 284-364), the renowned Daoist philosopher,
physician, and alchemist.
Although these historical figures lived in
different periods, many legends linking Mei Fu
and one of the Ges have been created to explain
how indigo came to be used for dyeing textiles.
1. MEI FU AND GE HONG, PATRON SAINTS OF TEXTILE-DYEING, Woodblock
print, Ink and colour on paper, Early 20th century, On loan from Dr. WJ. Zurowski,
L2004.11.1, H. 31.6 cm x W. 26.7 cm
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