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

shrinkage in dyeing. So the pattern is of slightly denser
texture than the ground without any additional threads
being introduced. Well preserved. 13″×3″. Pl. XXXVI.

Ast. iii. 3. 03. Frs. of silk ; crimson ; with slightly corded
texture. Very discoloured in places. Well preserved.
Gr. fr. 16″×10″.

Ast. iii. 3. 04. Frs. of silk ; white and of fine texture ;
discoloured in places. Well preserved. Gr. fr. c. 11″×12″.

Ast. iii. 3. 05. Wooden comb, with long diverging teeth
and narrow curved back. Well made. 4½″×2⅝″׳⁄₁₆″. Pl.
XCIV.

Ast. iii. 4. 01. Silk tubular object. Striped herring-bone
twill, alternate yellow and dull pink. Thread bound loosely
round one end. Finely woven and in perfect condition.
2″×⅞″.

Ast. iii. 4. 02. Three silk artificial leaves, green, with
stalk of gummed silk to which leaf is bound by fine floss
silk. Av. 1⅜″×1⅜″.

Ast. iii. 4. 03. a. Two silk sleeve-like objects, white,
with turn-over cuff, tied loosely at opposite end with raw
silk ; cf. Ast. iii. 4. 01. 5½″×1½″.

Ast. iii. 4. 03. b. Fr. of silk painting on fine buff canvas
painted with a bough of white blossoms with pink calyx.
Two blossoms are in the act of falling from the bough.
Stems brown shaded with grey. Outline black. Style
Chinese. 3″×3¼″.

Ast. iii. 4. 04. Fr. of paper, cut into continuous string of
'cash', still attached to the waste part from which another
string of 'cash' has been cut. 15⅜″×3″. Pl. XCIII.

Ast. iii. 4. 05. Frs. of silk painting. Small frs. from
larger painting, in white with coarse brown outlines.

Ast. iii. 4. 06. Fr. of silk damask, pale yellow. Spot
pattern, a lozengecomposed of nine dots. Twill on tabby
ground. Well preserved. 20½″×2½″.

Ast. iii. 4. 07. Fr. of silk ; plain white. 14″×2½″.

Ast. iii. 4. 08. Fr. of painted paper. Ground red with
rosette formed of six spots of alternate blue and green
with white centre round similar green spot ; to this the spots
are attached each by pedicle of white, with three radiating
white lines between spots. 4½″×1½″.

Ast. iii. 4. 09. Fr. of white silk 'sleeve', in miniature ;
four-petalled rosettes of alternate red and blue and red
and green, petals outlined black, painted on at intervals
of 1¼″. Torn away at both ends. 3½″×1¼″.

Ast. iii. 4. 010. a-j. Painting on silk.
General Note. Mass of frs. of figure subjects (genre)
painted on silk bolting. No subject complete. Frs. are
parts of a scroll (chüan or Makimono) edged with buff
silk damask of a pattern similar to Ser. iv. Pl. CXVII,
T. XIV. v. 0011 a, and subjects are divided from each other
by strips of the same pasted on. [For an account of the
relation of this painting to other remains of T'ang pictorial
art, the original arrangement of the panels, &c., see
II 4 U

'Remains of a T'ang Painting discovered by Sir Aurel
Stein, described by Laurence Binyon', Burlington Magazine
June 1925.]

The style of painting recalls irresistibly Japanese work
in so far as the precision of craftsmanship is concerned.
All the work is clean-cut and decisive. There is no back-
ground, but trees near the figures are introduced perhaps
to indicate open air. Birds flying and blossoms falling
serve the same purpose ; but there is no perspective, no
atmosphere, and these accessories are dry and hard.

The figures are, however, very human in an unemotional
placid way. The faces are pale pink, perhaps white,
delicately tinted on cheek and eyelids with an artificial
blush. The eyes are long and narrow, and in the attendants
more oblique than in the 'quality'.

The coiffures are elaborate but very neat and precise.
One person is holding in her hand an object which resembles
a jewelled toupee. The ladies appear to affect a turban-like
arrangement with a knot in front (resembling the toupee
referred to) and a long double-barred gold pin on the R.
side. Attendants have the hair parted in the middle and
folded in sleek bundles over the ears, which are covered.
One person has what looks like a long wolf's tail all over
the head and hanging on the L. shoulder. Two evidently
superior persons have a blue cloth projecting in a loose
round fold above the forehead from the back of the
'turban'.

The dress of attendants is a single loose overall reaching
to ankles, with long sleeves ; simple, round neck opening
and narrow belt. The ladies wear a long trailing robe held
up from the high waist-band by braces passing generally
over a loose mantle. This drapes the shoulders with
a V-opening in front, from which issues a white fichu or
kerchief, falling in trumpet folds to a point about waist
level. All drapery is simply drawn and is very graceful.
A darker tint is used to express folds, which are also
indicated by black contour lines. A small spot pattern is
frequently introduced all over the draperies. Foliage on
trees is in two tints of green, dark and light, and every
leaf is outlined with black. The dark green is the outer
plane, and the light the under.

A Tilaka of various forms is painted in red on all faces,
and always a crescent in red beside each eye ; cf. clay
model Ast. iii. 2. 022, Pl. XCIX.

All the colours, which are opaque, are perfectly fresh,
and the harmony is charming. Some of the pigments
appear to have had a corrosive effect on the silk, as fre-
quently the outlines of missing pieces are accurately left.
Black outlines are often softened by a grey line below or
beside.

Ast. iii. 4. 010. a. Silk painting. Shows part of three
compartments each about 21 inches in height and about
8¾ inches in width, divided from each other by strips of silk
damask. L. shows a small yellow table on which are traces
of gilded objects, and beside it a portion of drapery, yellow,
striped red. Centre compartment shows R. side of dancing
figure in orange long-sleeved robe, R. arm upraised ;