“Book review: Silk Thread: China and the Netherlands from 1600 by Tristan Mostert and Jan van Campen”, The Oriental Ceramic Society Newsletter 24 (2016), pp. 36-37. (original) (raw)
Sign up for access to the world's latest research
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Abstract
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Nijmegen (Vantilt Publishers) 2015, 248 pp, 195 colour illustrations, ISBN 978-94-6004-250-8, hardback, €24.50.
Related papers
Peripheral Matters: Selvage/Chef-de-piece Inscriptions on Chinese Silk Textiles.
In: UC Davis Law Review. Vol. 47 (2) 2013, 705-733
Throughout Chinese history, dynastic states time and again inscribed the artifact with product-related information, such as the maker's, commissioner's, or owner's names, or the date and site of production. Functional inscriptions were authorized with reference to one and the same quote in a traditional canon on rites situated within a moral discourse on production and consumption. In practice, content and formats, however, changed substantially. In a previous article I argued that reign marks, mostly known from porcelain, must be understood as a peculiar derivative of such functional inscriptions, and that they reflect a growing concern of the Ming state to lay claim on artifacts and propagate imperial rights. Merchants and craftsmen across trades drew on imperial marks among others to invoke trust in their markings which served advertising purposes. This Article highlights inscriptions as a conceptual framework to analyze the complex influences that affected marking practices on silk textiles. Information on silk was first stamped, or written on the silk, then woven into the selvage or chef-de-piece and later on embroidered. Personal names were replaced by institutional affiliations. Shifts in techniques reveal changing modes of trust, while alterations in content and interpretation resulted from institutional reorganization and the varying roles of silks in everyday life and as a ritual item, tributary ware, and commodity.
2014 - Integrating the Evidence: Historic Silk Production in Context
Consistent with the theme of this conference, my work involves a new direction in the study of weft-faced compound weave figured silks attributed to the Mediterranean region c. AD 600-1300. Known as samite and taqueté according to the binding structure, woven figured silks represent a highly recognizable, but poorly understood body of material. Figured silks are often described in terms of their association with the Byzantine Empire, based on representational and textual evidence. 1
Some reflections on how silk entered Europe BCE
There are only a limited number of readers that master the Danish language, and since I wanted to make this essay available to all the other people potentially interested in it, I have decided to translate it. I shall point out, however, that a couple of cognitions (some of which appear to be essential to the core statement of the essay’s conclusion) have become obsolete over the years. Thus, consider this text as a document of its time.
The question of prehistoric silks in Europe
Antiquity, 2013
Textiles and clothing are among the most visible aspects of human social and symbolic behaviour and yet they have left all too few traces in the archaeological record and it is easy to overlook their importance. Luxury textiles such as silk can additionally provide evidence of long-distance contact, notably between Europe and China during the Han dynasty and the Roman empire. But can these connections be projected back in time to the prehistoric period? The late Irene Good proposed a number of identifications of silk in Iron Age Europe and was instrumental in bringing the issue to wider attention. Closer examination reported here, however, calls those identifications into question. Instead, the case is put that none of the claimed Iron Age silks can be confirmed, and that early traffic in silk textiles to Europe before the Roman period cannot be substantiated.
The metal threads from the silk garments of the Famen Temple (Karatzani et al 2009, RestArch 2)
Restaurierung und Archäologie
"As a result of scientific investigations it was possible to determine the manufacturing technique employed to produce the metal threads used to embroider or weave the different pieces of silk fabrics found at the Famen Temple. Despite the reported discovery of a piece of drawn silver wire from the Famen complex (Yang et al. 2009), no evidence for the use of such wires were found among our samples. All the filé threads were made from strips cut from hammered natural gold foil. The rather variable dimensions of the strips and their chemical composition indicate that these were not mass-produced, but extremely delicate and skillful objects worth of the highest ranks of society. The absence of copper from the gold and the high purity of gold of some threads suggest the use of either a very pure raw material or of a highly developed refining technology. The identification of a single example of a gilt organic strip, gilded by folding a strip of very thin gold foil around a pre-cut organic strip, adds to our knowledge a variant of metal thread production previously unknown from Tang Dynasty China; the careful selection of well-refined gold for this particular type of thread clearly shows the high level of metallurgical understanding and competence of the Tang craftspeople, in keeping with the other examples of exquisite metalwork from the Famen Temple, and the Tang period in general. "
Science & Technology Journal, 2016
The exchange of goods and materials by way of trading and exchanges were common in ancient times between India and China via silk route and other trading routes. The movement of people from one place to another brought exchange of not only materials but also techniques and processes and helped to establish their own manufacturing facilities and craftsmanship. This has resulted into a cross-cultural influence over the craft forms as reflected in many resemblances of material culture, annotations and apologies seen in various forms and shapes in multiple domains such as ceramic pottery, glazed pottery, metalware, ship buildings, printing, silk and other fabrics, patterns and motifs etc. Observations of ancient remains from Belitung and artifacts from Indian cities along secondary and tertiary Silk routes, show significant influence in the similarities in techniques, materials, surface treatments, kiln processes, colors, motifs , etc. This paper examines a cross-cultural resemblance of product form factor between Changsha pottery and pots to ceramic ware from eastern parts and metalware from western regions of India like Gujarat and Rajasthan. The spread of Buddhism from India to China and other eastern and south eastern countries during this period must also form a strong reason for this cultural exchange.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
Related papers
Seri-Technics: Historical Silk Technologies
2020
At a time when the social and cultural importance of silk in the pre-modern global world is increasingly evident, this volume returns to the issue of technology and queries the ways in which actors determined the nature of silk by deploying, selecting, or pursuing certain set of technics, practices, or ideals (while dismissing or ignoring others). Drawing on the growing research on silk’s cultural, social, economic, and intellectual implications, these chapters provide a fresh look at how technical processes have been historically shaped to define the identity of silk. Calling the technical system that has generated ideas about silk a form of textile seri-technics, this volume presents historical case studies that, sampled from diverse cultural regions, exemplify major technological processes and practices of silk textile production. The contributions tackle five technical attributes and principles of action that have come to make- up historical seri-technics
Black Silk, Brown Silk: China and Beyond—Traditional Practice Meets Fashion
This report discusses black-colored silks from southeastern Asia that are often referred to as "gummed" silks. 1 These silks are treated with iron-rich mud that coats the silk filaments and creates a deep black color (often in conjunction with a previous coloration). The report covers three areas. Firstly, I review various names used for black mud-treated silks and begin to contextualize the production and use region. Two mud-treated silk samples from early-1930s Southeast Asia are introduced in this discussion. Secondly, I initiate investigation into the role of mud-treated black silks in Chinese fashion history during the transition from the late-imperial era to twentieth-century modernity. Thirdly, the use of mud-treated silks in twenty-first-century fashion is highlighted. Context of Mud-Treated Silks "Gummed silk" is apparently a common euphemism for a variety of mud-treated or mud-coated silks. In the context of Asian black silks, gummed is not a reference to the raw state of silk filaments, but rather a general name for shiny black silk fabrics coated with tannin-rich mud. Jiāo-chou and xiang-yun-shā are the names most often employed in China to refer to slightly stiff bi-colored silks that are brownish-orange on one side and black on the other. Fashion designers, manufacturers, retailers, and authorities on textiles employ several other names for these bi-colored and other solid black mud-treated silks. For example, contemporary fashion designer Luiang Zi calls the bi-colored silks Liangchou. Other names for mud-treated silks include Canton silk, gambiered silk, Guangdong silk, lacquered silk, liang silk, Tang silk, and tea silk. The array of names suggests both a variety of southeastern Chinese and Southeast Asian ethnic groups making and using various mud-treated silk fabrics, and the imprecision in translating the names into English. To further confound clarity in researching or discussing these fabrics, codification of particular mud-treated silk textiles and their specific techniques and characteristics remains to be accomplished. Thus, to simplify terminology at this time, I employ the descriptive adjectives gummed (already widely applied) or mud-treated, as noted above) when referring to textiles from this broad category. For the bi-colored mud-treated silks from southeast China, I use jiāo-chou and xiang-yun-shā for plain and crepe weaves, and leno-weave, respectively.
The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is pleased to present Silk Splendour, Textiles of Late Imperial China (1644-1911). We are tremendously grateful to a number of generous donors, who have given financial assistance for this publication which illustrates the extensive Chinese textile holdings in the Gallery's collection. We wish to thank the Stephen and Eunice Lowe Chinese Art Fund as well as funds provided by Judith Patt, Helen Sawyer and Paul Warner. I would like also at this time to recognize our funders, the Canada Council for the Arts, the CRD and the BC Arts Council for their ongoing support. Thanks also to Barry Till, Curator of Asian Art, for his work in developing, organizing and producing this project as well as the staff members who assisted him.
Silk Splendour: Textiles of Late Imperial China 1644-1911
Silk Splendour: Textiles of Late Imperial China 1644-1911 , 2012
This book illustrates court garments reflecting the pomp and ceremony of Manchu court life and the Chinese aristocracy of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) from the Chinese textile collection of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.