National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

according to Chiang Ssŭ-yeh's interpretation, by a fourth which figured on the torn portion to the left
of the fragment, the whole making up the propitious formula, well known on scrolls, 延年益壽
Yen nien i shou, i. e. ' may you enjoy long life '.

Birds
crossing
rows of
monsters. Another design of this character is shown by the pieces L.C. i. 06–7 ; iii. 04. c, 12 (?), 17. b,
18, all fragmentary (Pl. XLII). The pattern comprises within a ' vermicular ' cloud scroll a winged
dog-like beast springing downwards ; in front of it a plump partridge-like bird standing at right
angles to the general line of beasts ; a striding leopard and a lizard-shaped monster. In the well-
preserved piece, L.C. 08 (Pl. XXXIV), executed in a number of still brilliant colours, a rich cloud
scroll of ' tree-coral ' appearance meanders across the fabric. In its bends are shown alternately a
winged lion striding menacingly to the left with mouth open, and a duck in rapid flight downwards
with outstretched neck. Here, too, the effect attained is that of rows of birds crossing rows of
monsters at right angles.

Confronting
animals in
designs. The same arrangement is typically illustrated also by the fragment of damask, L.C. vii. 09
(Pl. XL), the design of which offers a twofold interest. In it zigzag bands, ornamented with a simple
fret and ' faulted ' at the corners, provide a near approach to a geometrical ' all-over ' pattern of
the lozenge type. Within the lozenges are placed pairs of confronting animals, a motif frequent in
our early Chinese silks and easily accounted for in textiles of whatever period and origin by the
convenience which the ' turn-over ' method, by producing symmetrical figures, presents to the
designer and weaver. In the centre band shown by the drawing, each lozenge contains a pair
of crane-like birds confronting and regardant, with scrolled plumage. In the band of lozenges
above, pairs of dog-like animals are placed feet against feet on a line which cuts the line of birds
at right angles. In the band below, the lozenges are filled by pairs of winged and horned beasts,
rampant, similarly placed.

Simplifica-
tion into
geometrical
pattern. Closely allied in its scheme is the design of L.C. v. 027. a (Pl. XLIII), found also in another
fragment, L.C. i. 010. Here pairs of confronting rams, moving as if to butt one another, occupy
the lozenges of an ' all-over ' geometrical diaper. Variety is introduced by reversing the pair of
confronting animals in the vertical direction at each repeat. A striking illustration of simplifica-
tion of pattern is provided by the fragments described under L.C. v. 023, 027. b (Pl. XLIII), where
this design appears transformed into a purely geometrical one. The confronting animals have
here degenerated into a stiff kind of cloud scroll, and the rosette at the crossings of the lozenge
lines into a plain square. As usual in the geometrical patterns from L.C., the colours are reduced
to two only as against three in L.C. v. 027. a.

Reversal
of confront-
ing figures. We have, in the design of the polychrome silk L.C. 031. c (Pl. XXXIV, XXXIX), an interesting
example of the confronting figure scheme produced by reversal. It shows the curious Puck-like
figure of a sprite seated in profile within a cloud scroll, and slightly above it, and in front, the
figure of a bird, regardant. The reversal of the pattern on a vertical line close to the bird's tail
results in a pair of addorsed birds and a pair of confronting sprites. For some observations of
interest on details produced by the ' turn-over ' method in this design, reference may be made to
Mr. Andrews' paper.¹⁰

Fused
design with
tree-like
feature. Still more instructive in this respect is Mr. Andrews' analysis of the strangely complex design
of L.C. 07. b (Pl. XL). Its successive registers show, above, two birds facing with outstretched
necks ; next, a pair of confronting griffins above the grinning heads of two very stylized monsters,
and at the bottom what looks like an arched shrine occupied by a pair of grotesque animals kneeling
face to face, and by its side a smaller pair of arches. The upper registers are surrounded by cloud
scrolls, portions of which reversed assume a curious resemblance to a tree with stiff symmetrical