Silk Weaving in Ancient China: From Geometric Figures to Patterns of Pictorial Likeness
By Dieter Kuhn
Chinese Science, Vol. 12 (1995)
Introduction: From the very beginning of textile production, woven patterns were determined by technical factors that included the nature of the raw material, the requirements of its processing, the structure of the loom and the weaving techniques employed. In China silk dominated textile technology; its unique properties dictated the development of looms and their technology, upon which in turn weaving methods and patterns depended. In this article I shall examine the various types of looms used in Eastern Han times, relating them to the development of weaving patterns from stiff geometrical motifs to dynamic pictorial likenesses. I shall look in particular at the origin of Han patterns like the floating clouds and beasts on “brocade” and the so-called “brocade” with inscriptions or “brocade” of eternal good luck, in which motifs that had previously been confined to embroidery were translated to the loom. Most Western scholars are convinced that the drawloom was introduced to China in medieval times. My analysis of Han textiles and texts supports the view of Chinese textile historians that an early form of drawloom was one of the types of looms used to produce figured fabrics during the later Han dynasty.
The properties of silk thread are unique: the length of individual filaments wound off the cocoon varies between 700m and 900m. In weaving, to produce even-textured fabric one must ensure that the warp threads are kept at a consistently high level of tension. The warp threads are those which, in parallel, run lengthwise across the loom; the weft threads are introduced laterally at right angles to them. A high weaving tension necessitates the use of comparatively elastic warp threads of a kind not naturally found in raw silk. This elasticity is obtained through winding or throwing or else doubling and twisting the thread, techniques which were all well-developed in China by the Han.
The early Chinese inventions and innovations in the processing of silk threads have to be seen in the context of the treadle-operated loom which was equipped with two treadles in order to mechanise the opening process of the shed. Thus a clear shed for the shuttle was formed through which the weft thread could pass. The shuttle can be defined as a boat-shaped container furnished with a spool. Such a loom was employed to weave simple tabby fabrics to standard quality on a large scale. From its structure it may be described as a combined horizontal-vertical or oblique warp sheet loom. Depictions of the loom on stone-reliefs from Han times which were found in Shandong, Jiangsu and Sichuan provide ample evidence of this type of loom. A more complicated loom with a treadle mechanism for the forming of the shed and with a system of draw-cords or pattern rods which looped the warp threads required for the pattern already existed in Zhou times. In some cases a treadle mechanism operating lifting heddle-shafts was set up.
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