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| 0332 |
Innermost Asia : vol.1 |
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silks from more than a century or two later, are in ' warp-rib '.¹¹ This weave is shown also by an interesting
Han Limes. piece from the Ch'ien-fo-tung hoard, Ch. 00118, discussed in Mr. Andrews' preliminary paper
and fully described in Serindia,¹² which by its very characteristic design attaches itself closely to
those finds from the Limes of the Han period.
Later use From these considerations it appears safe to conclude that the use of twill weave was not
of ' twill known to the producers of Chinese figured silks during Han times and the period immediately
weave '. following, and that the variation of ' warp-rib ' then employed in its stead was subsequently, at
some time intervening between the fourth century and the latter half of the sixth (the time of the
earliest Astāna burials), abandoned for the more suitable twill. Thus we see that a very useful
criterion of the date of Chinese figured silks can be derived from the weave technique employed.
Introduction We have at present no definite evidence as to where twill weave first originated. But a valuable
of ' twill indication as to its possible introduction from regions west of China may, perhaps, be deduced
weave.' from the fact that varieties of twill weave are actually found in at least four woollen fabrics (L.C.
037–8 ; v. 02. b, 026) as well as in several cotton stuffs.¹³ Considering that wool is a material which
at all periods must have been abundantly produced and put to textile use in the Tārīm basin,¹⁴
and further that all the woollen tapestry pieces from L.C. show in the style of their designs unmis-
takable Hellenistic influence suggesting production west of China,¹⁵ it appears probable that twill
had been established in use by the local weavers of the Tārīm basin long before its adoption by the
silk industry of China. On the other hand, it deserves to be noted that among the woollen and
cotton fabrics from the Tun-huang Limes which may be presumed to be of Chinese manufacture
and which are either earlier than, or coeval with, the corresponding textile relics from the L.C.
graves, I have not been able to trace any use of the twill weave.
Polychrome Among the methods of decoration applied to the texture of the silk fabrics themselves, that
figured silks of inwoven patterns or ' figures ' is by far the most general. With the exception of the few specimens
prevail over in monochrome described as ' damaskes ', all the figured silks are polychrome.¹⁶ In all of them the
damaskes. colours, whether restricted to two only to bring out figure and ground, or else used in greater
variety, are rich and always harmonious. Nothing could demonstrate better the high state of perfec-
tion that the silk-weaving craft of China had reached in the Han period, and no doubt for a long
time before it, than the exquisite art observed in the execution of almost all these specimens. The
almost exclusive use of a polychrome scheme of decoration in the figured silks from L.C. contrasts
curiously with the fact that in the Ch'ien-fo-tung hoard specimens of patterned damasks and
gauzes are quite as numerous as polychrome fragments.¹⁷ In this difference we may probably
recognize a result of the far greater facilities offered for damask decoration by the later introduction
of twill weave.
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