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9. Robe with ‘all-weather’ sleeves Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) |
This robe has a length of 119 centimetres, width of 224 centimetres across the sleeves and a width of 105 centimetres in the area of the skirt. It was made of two different fabrics, the exterior of the robe being a silk damask in light brown colour, the lining a light blue silk tabby. It has a cross collar, long and narrow sleeves, comparably narrow waist and a wide skirt. The outer panel of the robe’s front overlaps the inner panel to the right and is secured by three silk ribbon stays, which are of the same silk damask as the robe’s exterior and are each 4 centimetres wide and 25 centimetres long. They were tied to another three ribbons connected to the back of the robe. In addition, the inner panel has a single ribbon of the same light blue silk tabby as the lining; it is 2.5 centimetres wide by 20 centimetres long and was tied to another ribbon under the left arm. In the region of the skirt at the back of the robe (to the right) is a pleat of some 33 centimetres of material to form a vent for horseback riding. At the robe’s midsection fabric, from both the top and the skirt, portions of the robe have been cut and folded inwards to create a tailored waist. A possible tailoring plan for the robe demonstrates that a total of seven metres of fabric would have been required for the robe’s construction, this being the least amount of fabric generally used in Mongol robes. A standard product of the Yuan in both its cut and general styling, this robe has yet one remarkable feature – the sleeves, which could be worn at full length during the winter, and thanks to slits in the fabric at the shoulders, could be folded back in the summer and attached to the robe’s back. The two slits are each 22.5 centimetres long and are located about 78 centimetres above the cuff. The loops for attaching the bottom portion of the sleeves to the back are located about 16 centimetres above the cuff, and the button they could be attached to is located at the centre of the back of the robe about 14 centimetres below the collar. The damask of the robe’s exterior layer bears a pattern of lozenges against which is a repeated motif of flying birds. The foundation weave is 2.1.2.1.1.1 twill in S and Z directions to form the lozenge design on which the flying birds, one row facing leftwards and the other facing right in staggered arrangement, are in units of 6.8 centimetres in the warp direction and 7.2 centimetres in the weft direction. Similar weaves with a lozenge twill as the ground date back as early as the Liao period (907-1125), but became particularly popular in the Yuan dynasty. There are many excavated examples, such as a robe with swallows and plum blossoms on a lozenge ground from the tomb of Li Yu’an (1350) (Zhoucheng, Shandong) and a damask belt embroidered with boys and lotus from the Dove Cave, Longhua (Hebei). The flying birds as a repeated motif is also very common within all the Yuan ruyi-period arts, and can be found not only on textiles found in China, but also in those discovered in Korea. On each of the shoulders of the robe is an embroidered rosette roundel (about 10 centimetres in diameter) flanked to one side by a triangular configuration of a vine-like motif with ruyi-shaped fungus and lotus with a width of 24 centimeters at its bottom. The implication of the design is that the triangular formation is a kind of plinth for the rosette. The embroiderer first couched wrapped gold threads on a piece of silk textile, with some padding underneath to form a raised outline, and then stitched the embroidered piece onto the robe in the standard procedure of appliqué. Similar designs to the rosette and scrolling vine plinth can be found in some other Yuan costumes. One example in the collection of the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou is a gold couched embroidery of the sun and the moon (two roundels) flanked by a triangular arrangement of clouds and attached to a robe as appliqué designs. In accordance with standard Chinese symbology, the roundel of the sun contains a three legged bird, while that of the moon contains a rabbit. Another example is a gilt brocade robe at the Museum of Mongol Art in Hohhot, which has a similar sun and moon motif flanked by triangularly configured dragons instead of clouds. This robe’s retractable style of sleeves is so far unique amongst archaeological textiles in China, but has been found on a similar robe of probably Caucasian origins currently preserved in a private collection. It seems likely that this fashion of sleeve is of a Central Asian origin and was adopted by the Mongols through contact with their imperial domains there. Detail: back Detail: |