Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum
Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum
Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum
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WHEN A GEJIA WOMAN PUTS ON HER FESTIVE REGALIA,<br />
white lines are actually<br />
she uses a colourful sash to tie this small apron (a) on top of the skirt<br />
the resisted areas. They<br />
fe<br />
of a larger apron with a wide white border. From a distance, this small<br />
piece would appear to have a wide white border.12 The geometric<br />
design resembles a tangram (Chinese geometrical puzzle). The differently<br />
shaped angular panels are all framed <strong>by</strong> a border made up<br />
of two rows of compactly arranged crosses. These panels are also<br />
all separated <strong>by</strong> five white lines. Except the band at the top and the<br />
rhomboids located at the lower corners, all panels are filled with a<br />
scroll pattern reminiscent of clouds or the ruyi. The pattern, however,<br />
is embedded with more meanings.<br />
The configuration<br />
seen at the centre of the<br />
square panel and the two<br />
triangular ones above it is<br />
composed of a coin-like<br />
centre enclosed <strong>by</strong> two<br />
sets of eight connected<br />
concave arcs which in<br />
turn are surrounded <strong>by</strong> a<br />
ring of eight interlinking<br />
scrolls. The centre represents<br />
the sun. The ring<br />
with pointed edges stands<br />
for the sky, while the<br />
eight interlinking scrolls<br />
are drawn with beeswax<br />
in order that they remain<br />
white after dyeing. Here,<br />
they are all drawn very<br />
close to one another so that<br />
the thin spaces between<br />
them would become blue<br />
after dyeing. These fine<br />
blue lines give shape, creating<br />
the several motifs.<br />
Considering the usual drafting<br />
tools the Cejia women<br />
use are no more than rice<br />
straws, bamboo strips and sectioned bamboo culms for rendering<br />
straight lines and circles, it is really amazing how well the motifs have<br />
been executed.<br />
The other apron (b) combines small pieces of wax-dyed cotton<br />
with multicolour embroidery on linen. The blue-and-white rectangle<br />
serves as a patch pocket in the centre. Its design resembles the upper<br />
part of a garment with what appears to be a neck opening, having a<br />
large medallion with the sun symbol as a focal point. This in turn is<br />
surrounded on three sides <strong>by</strong> a continuous border pattern made up<br />
of two alternating motifs: a winding or keyfret motif and a chessboard<br />
motif. The pocket also is surrounded on three sides <strong>by</strong> an embroi-<br />
16b<br />
portray the eight trigrams.13<br />
The pattern in the uppermost band depicts gently undulating lines<br />
accompanied with double-outlined arcs on both sides. They signify<br />
terraced fields.14 The identical designs (depicted in mirror image) in<br />
the rhomboids may be highly stylized images of a tiger.15<br />
If the symbolism hidden in these motifs is fascinating, the technical<br />
skills required to produce this work is no less captivating. The<br />
16. TWO APRONS, Cotton and linen, 1990s, (a) Cejia ethnic group, (b) Miao<br />
ethnic group, Huangping county, Guizhou province, Gift of Dr. Ka Bo Tsang in<br />
memory of Mrs. Tsang Ng Sheung, 2004.68.17, W. (a) L 26.2 cm x W. 33.4 cm, (b) L<br />
34.6 cm x W. 41 cm<br />
29