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10. Damask robe with ribboned waist decoration Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) |
This very typical Mongolian robe of the Yuan dynasty has a flat crossing collar, narrow sleeves and waist and silk tying ribbons. It is 126 centimetres in length, 218 centimetres across the sleeves, 110 centimetres wide at the robe’s skirt and 49 centimetres at the waist The collar is 7.2 centimetres wide. Eighteen silk ribbons with a width of 0.7 centimetres have been stitched horizontally around the waist to form a broad band some 18.5 centimetres in width, which visually is not unlike the modern cummerbund. This kind of waist decoration composed of silk ribbons has so far not been found on other Yuan robes. Made of the same silk damask as the robe’s exterior layer, each ribbon is knotted three times, in the middle of the waist, front and back, and at the wearer’s right side, where are also located seven knotted buttons which are secured by corresponding loops located also to wearer’s right at the waist. A ribbon of the same silk tabby as the robe’s lining hangs under the left arm. At 19 centimetres in length and 2.5 centimetres in width, it would have been secured to another silk ribbon that was once connected to the inner panel of the robe. Although of the same material as the top of the robe, the garment’s skirt is, in fact, composed of two separate pieces of fabric. The two panels, both about 64 centimetres in length, have different widths of 129 and 187 centimetres. At the top of both panels, and therefore just below the ribboned waist, the material has been folded over and stitched into tight, tiny pleats, numbering altogether 153. At the back of the skirt to the wearer’s left is a riding vent of some 19 centimetres of overlapping material. The lining layer of the robe is of silk tabby, with a similar layout to the exterior, but with fewer and looser pleats. A reconstruction of the tailoring pattern for the exterior layer suggests this robe would have required 7.5 metres of silk. The exterior layer of the robe is a twill damask, 1/2S twill on 2/1Z twill, with motifs of flying birds and small flowers, which is repeated in 7 centimetre units in both warp and weft directions and in a very similar style to that of the robe with ‘all weather’ sleeves. Twill damask, especially using 2/1 and 1/2 in different directions, was a very popular combination of pattern and ground weaves in the Yuan period. Many fragments with this weave structure have been found, two good examples being a pair of patchwork textiles from the Dove Cave at Longhua (Hebei). One had seven of its seventeen parts using this weave structure, and the other had four of its twelve patches utilising this weave. |