Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum
Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum
Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum
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and taken up other jobs to make a living. The woodblocks that have<br />
fallen into disuse frequently ended up being used as stringers for the<br />
steps of a staircase, or as make-shift covers<br />
for large pottery jars, or bases for supporting<br />
such storage containers. The future of<br />
clamp-resist dyeing is grim indeed unless an<br />
official program to sustain this technique is<br />
put into place soon.<br />
IN THE RURAL AREA surrounding<br />
the cities of Wenzhou and Taizhou, located<br />
along the southern coast of Zhejiang province,<br />
it was customary for the family of a<br />
prospective bride to prepare as part of her<br />
trousseau one or more quilts with the covers<br />
embellished with auspicious designs."<br />
Those that had images of dragons and phoenixes<br />
were called "dragon-and-phoenix"<br />
quilts (longfeng bei). Others decorated with<br />
many boys were called "hundred children"<br />
quilts (baizi bei). Still others that showed<br />
children dressed in traditional scholar's attire<br />
were called "champions" quilts (zhuangyuan<br />
bei). These designs expressed blessings for a<br />
harmonious married life, abundant offspring,<br />
and success in the children's future careers.<br />
According to superstition, failure to provide<br />
such quilts would cause discord in the daily life of<br />
the new couple, or their inability to produce sons, or worse still, one<br />
of them dying prematurely. If such misfortune did eventually happen,<br />
the bride's family would be blamed.<br />
As a rule, cotton to be used for a quilt cover would be woven<br />
with double yarns to ensure durability. Only poor families that could<br />
not afford the expense would use a single yarn. Naturally quilt<br />
covers made of a single yarn would be lighter, less warm, and less<br />
durable. Irrespective of quality, however,<br />
when the newlyweds covered themselves<br />
with new quilts at night, they would find<br />
themselves tinted with indigo dust when<br />
they rose in the morning. This inevitable<br />
phenomenon was deemed to be good for<br />
safeguarding health, as indigo was also<br />
reputed for its medicinal qualities.<br />
When sewn together, these two<br />
unconstructed panels with a design dyed<br />
in mirror image form the top of a quilt<br />
cover. The decorative elements, composed<br />
of dots, curves, and straight lines,<br />
are neatly grouped into three registers.<br />
The principal composite motif in the middle<br />
register consists of two pairs of phoenixes<br />
surrounding a lotus with a seed pod<br />
in the centre and two peonies beside it. It<br />
calls to mind two traditional motifs euphemistically<br />
termed feng chuan lian (phoenix<br />
penetrating a lotus) and feng chuan mudan<br />
22. UNCONSTRUCTED TOP OF A QUILT COVER WITH PHOENIX DESIGN,<br />
Cotton, 1997, Badai village, Yishan county, Zhejiang province, Gift of Dr. Ka Bo<br />
Tsang in memory of Mrs. Tsang Ng Sheung, 2004.68.23.J-2, (each) L 190 cm x W.<br />
73.7cm<br />
36