Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum

19
THIS LENGTH Of CLOTH is decorated throughout by two
plain bands and four patterned bands separated by rows of dogteeth.
Essentially, the major band is positioned in mid-section. It
is composed of repeat tile-like square units, each consisting of five
small squares with a cross form and four triangular corner pieces.
Above and below this are two identical bands of eight-point stars.
At the bottom is the fourth patterned band made up of interlocking
double-outlined octagons. The two plain bands at the top are slightly
different. While one is a solid line, the other is enhanced with narrow
borders.
Although most lines are neither straight nor even, and overlapping
or missing parts are everywhere, such imperfections indicate
the serendipitous nature of the handicraft made by women of the
ethnic groups primarily for their own use. They have at their disposal
only crudely made tools, sporadic leisure time, and far from ideal
working environments. This yardage possibly may be for use as
sleeve bands. It also could be used for either the upper or lower part
of a full pleated skirt, in which case the defects would become hardly
noticeable.22 The blue-on-blue colour scheme is achieved by first
dyeing the whole cloth to obtain the pale blue shade before proceeding
to other steps of the wax-resist process to create the patterns.
ABSTRACTED SILHOUETTES OF ANIMALS AND BIRDS are
arranged neatly in rows to form an overall pattern for this fabric.23
They appear to have been stamped on the cloth ground using wax
and square blocks engraved with images in relief. Judging by the slight
spatial variations among the rows and columns, two different blocks
have been used. One has in eacrvof its quadrants in clockwise direction
a swan (?), a horse, a crane together with a turtle, and a tiger (?).
Similarly, the other has a
cormorant with a snake, •^•H m, i ^—•.••••
an ox, an egret with a
fish, and a deer. The two
groups of motifs alternate
across the width of
the fabric, forming two
rows of images when
stamping is completed.
The following double
rows are achieved
in
the same way, but the
sequence of the blocks is
reversed. This creates a
final overall pattern that
is more interesting. Other factors also lessen the feeling of regularity
and sameness generated by infinite repetition. The slight variation in
pressure exerted on the block and the amount of wax transferred from
19. BOLT OF FABRIC WITH GEOMETRIC PATTERN, Linen, 1990s, Miao ethnic
group, Duyun county, Cuizhou province. Gift of Dr. Ka Bo Tsang in memory of Mrs.
Tsang Ng Sheung, 2004.68.13, W. 30.6 cm
20. LENGTH OF FABRIC WITH ANIMAL PATTERN, Cotton, Early 1980s, Guizhou
province, On loan from Mrs. Patty Proctor, L2004.8.5, W. 83.7 cm