Touched by Indigo - Royal Ontario Museum

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16 For information and illustrations of some, see Wang Lianhai and Zhu Yuemei,
Minjian zhihua, pp. 3, 5, 18, 55, 59, and 85.
17 For illustrations of such examples, ibid., 83-84; Hubei meishu chubanshe,
ed., Minjian meishu, p. 136.
18 A similar example with much simpler patterns is illustrated in Huang Nengfu,
ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji: gongyi meishubian, vol. 7, p. 16, fig. 21. This
example, however, was made by a weaver of the Dai ethnic nationality in
Yunnan province.
Pattern-dyed fabrics: Tie-dye
1 Wu Min, Zhixiu, p. 141.
2 Zhao Feng, Sichou yishu shi, p. 77.
3 For illustration of an example from the state of Western Liang (404-421) and
two examples of the Tang dynasty, see Huang Nengfu, ed., Zhongguo meiihu
quanji: gongyi meishubian, vol. 6, pis. 105, 127, and 129. For two more
examples of Tang-dynasty tie-dyed fabrics, see Zhao Feng, ed., Fangzhipin
kaogu xinfaxian, pp. 46 and 105. In addition, many more Tang-dynasty
examples of fabrics and clothing with tie-dyed patterns have been preserved
in the ShosSin in Nara.
4 Examples of some of these motifs may be seen in Wang Xu, Wang Xu yu
fangzhi kaogu, pp. 82-95.
5 Zhao Feng, Sichou yishu shi, p. 77,
6 For this interpretation, see Shen Congwen, Huahua duoduo tantan guanguan:
Shen Congwen tan yishu yu wenwu, p. 106.
7 Zhong Maolan, Minjian ranzhi meishu, p. 113.
8 For diagrams showing these steps, ibid., p. 114.
9 Zhong Maolan, Minjian ranzhi meishu, p. 106.
10 Ibid., p. 105.
11 The ruffle shows that after the tie-dye process the width of the scarf has
become only about half of the original width of the fabric. The different visual
effects between pressed and unpressed products may be seen by comparing
the two specimens discussed here.
Pattern-dyed fabrics: Wax-resist
1 Zhong Maolan, Minjian ranzhi meishu, p. 127.
2 Liu Enyuan, "Cong kaogu ji wenxian ziliao lun Zhongguo laran wenhua," p.
124.
3 For illustration of some of the fine examples stored in the ShOsOin in Nara, see
Zhong Maolan, Minjian ranzhi meishu, pp. 128-129.
4 Wax was rarely produced in urban areas in China. People who gathered
beeswax had to go to the countryside to search for beehives. A Tang poet
named Gu Kuang in a poem relates how such workers risked their lives by
climbing down cliff faces to look for beehives and how they suffered when
being stung. Often tragedy happened when a helper, suddenly attacked by a
swarm of bees, let go the safety rope tied around the wax-gatherer's waist. See
Zhao Feng, Sichou yishu shi, p. 86. To this sympathetic poet, beeswax was a
luxury that caused much misery.
5 See a blue-and-white patterned cotton fragment unearthed from an Eastern
Han tomb at Minfeng in Xinjiang illustrated in Huang Nengfu, ed., Zhongguo
meishu quanji: gongyi meishubian, vol. 6, p. 113, fig. 103.
6 Two blue-and-white patterned wool fragments datable to the Northern dynasties
are illustrated in ibid., p. 123, fig. 112.
7 This method was probably already in use during the Tang dynasty. It was not
until the Song dynasty that Zhou Qufei recorded it in his collection of notes
entitled Lingwai daida. See Yang Wuquan, annot., Lingwai da/da jiaozhu, p.
224.
8 The starch is a thick solution made by pulverizing the pulp of taro or the baiji,
a mucilaginous root.
9 See illustrations of these steps in Hu Huizheng, "Anshun Miaozu guniang zuo
koushuidou lahua," pp. 31-38.
10 Red dye can be obtained from xicao (Rubia cord/folia), safflower (Carthamus
tinctorius), balsam (Impatiens balsamina), or sappan wood (Caesalpina sappan).
Yellow dye is made from gardenia (Gardenia florida) and huai (Sophora
japonica).
11 For illustrations, see Liu Daoguang, "Zouxiang ruzhai kan Cuizhou lahua,"
pp. 52-53.
12 Ibid., pp. 28-29.
13 For all these interpretations, see ibid., p. 30. The eight trigrams are a Han
Chinese concept which asserts that changes in eight natural phenomena
(heaven, earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain, river) would produce
different effects in the lives of human beings. The Han Chinese used a totally
different symbol to represent the eight trigrams: an octagon that encloses eight
groupings of broken and unbroken lines.
14 Ibid., p. 33.
15 Viewed sideways, the two closely connected scrolls represent the head seen
straight on, with the scroll ends playing the role of eyes. The larger separate
scroll would serve as the side view of the crouching tiger's haunch, while the
smaller scroll would stand for the tail. Ibid., p. 39.
16 Another apron having the same exterior border is illustrated in Ginna
Corrigan, Miao Textiles from China, p. 70. More examples of the same style of
apron can be found in Liu Daoguang, "Laran," pp. 26-27.
17 The bronze drum, which required both the raw materials and appropriate
technology to make, signified wealth and advanced culture in ancient times.
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