Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum

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One charming legend has it that in ancient times people wore white
clothes before they learned about dyeing. One day Mei fell on the
muddy river shore and his clothes were stained yellow. When news
of using mud to dye clothes yellow spread, people began to wear yellow.
Not satisfied with this new-found colour, which would fade after
a few washings, Mei and his friend, Ge, searched for another more
stable colour. Another time, they noticed a piece of yellow cloth
drying on a tree branch had been blown to the ground covered with
vegetation and had become stained with green and blue markings.
Gathering some of the plant, they pulverized its leaves, put the paste
in water, and soaked some white cloth in the liquid. The white cloth
turned blue. From then on, people were able to wear blue clothes.
Furthermore, Ge is credited for having discovered by chance a method
of using wine dregs to induce fermentation and revive coagulated
indigo. This happened when he drank wine too hastily and, seized by
a fit of choking, inadvertently spit out the wine into a dye-pot.6
Over the centuries, Mei and Ge have been honoured as patronsaints
for their reputed contributions to textile-dyeing. They are
commemorated each year on the fourteenth day of the fourth month
and the ninth day of the ninth month in the lunar calendar. On these
days woodblock prints depicting Mei and Ge, such as this one, are
pasted on walls or placed on altars with offerings. After
rituals imploring their continuous blessings have been
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performed, the prints are burned (to send them back
to heaven). This and similar prints depicting other
patron-saints were once mass-produced. However,
only a small number have survived owing to the
convention of burning them.
THIS MAN'S SOCK was collected in
Taiwan by Dr. George Leslie Mackay
(1844-1901), a Canadian
missionary sent by the
Presbyterian Church in Canada to do good work and spread the
Gospel in Taiwan (then known as Formosa).7 Arriving first at the
southern seaport of Gaoxiong at the end of 1871, he soon moved to
Danshui in northern Taiwan and remained there until he died. For
thirty years he preached, healed, and educated the people within his
parish. A naturalist and anthropologist, he also collected plant specimens
and daily use articles that he thought interesting or unique.
In 1893, while on his second furlough, he brought back to
Canada hundreds of objects, collected with the intention that they be
used as teaching aids to foster a fuller understanding of the cultures
of the different peoples living in Taiwan. Two years later he donated
his collection to his alma mater, the Knox College of the University
of Toronto. In 1915 more than six hundred objects were transferred
to the custody of the Royal Ontario Museum. Since then, they have
formed a solid base for the study of the lives and customs of the Han
Chinese as well as the aboriginals in Taiwan.8
The white sock is double-layered. For further reinforcement, the
upper is edged with a blue border and at the heel another layer of
quilted light blue cloth is stitched on. These additional protective features
also serve as a means of simple ornamentation. They evoke the
illusion of spats. Another subtle structural design worthy of note is the
gently curving edge of the top which makes the sock look much more
stylish than one with a flat top. The sole is also reinforced by quilting,
for greater durability as well as for warmth and comfort. Socks like
this would have been worn with shoes and pulled over the hem of the
trousers. Puttees would be needed to keep them in place.
Stuck on one side of the top is a small paper label with a hand-
2. MAN'S SOCK, Cotton, Qing dynasty, last quarter of 19th century, Taiwan,
Knox College Collection, 915.3.146, H. 18 cm x L 23.2 cm (sole) x W. 6.2 cm (sole)
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