Fragments with lions, Late Tang to Five dynasties

Fragments with lions, Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.326 (Ch.00179)

Fragments with lions (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
China
Late Tang to Five dynasties, 9th - 10th centuries
Liao samite in silk
Width 23.5 cm x length 1.6 cm (longest piece)
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.326 (Ch.00179)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Thirty-nine fragments of this pattern woven silk have survived. They show the remains of a small roundel design, arranged in bands on a red ground. The white roundels are outlined in blue with details in green and yellow depicting two lions with biting jaws and extended claws, each chasing the other's tail. Nine fragments shows a different colour scheme with a yellow roundel, outlined in blue with details in green and white, but still on red ground. The motif of chasing lions is characteristically Chinese, but is reproduced here differently from earlier periods when the pattern was executed in an axial symmetry. The lions here are arranged in rotating symmetry which did not appear earlier than the late Tang dynasty.

Fragments of sutra wrappers, Tang to Five dynasties

Fragments of sutra wrappers, Tang to Five dynasties, 600-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.100 (Ch.iii.0012.a-b)

Fragments of sutra wrappers
China
Tang to Five dynasties, 600-900 AD
Silk threads, bamboo splints
Width 10.3 cm x height 28 cm (largest piece)
Width 2.4 cm x height 28.8 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.100 (Ch.iii.0012.a-b)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

These two bamboo pieces once formed part of two different sutra wrappers. They are made of bamboo splints held together by bands of twined silks in three colours: red, green and yellow. The bands on the smaller piece have a floral design; the bands on other a lozenge design with a seated Buddha to the upper left.

In ancient China books were given protective covers, usually made of a textile of some kind. When a book or scroll was not in use, it was rolled up in the wrapper and secured with a wrapper tie. Sutra wrappers, as well as banners, were suitable gifts from fervent believers and from monasteries.

Gauze fragments, Late Tang to Five dynasties

Gauze fragments, Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.224 (Ch.00313)

Gauze fragments (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
China
Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD
Simple gauze weave with floats in silk
Width 7.5 cm x length 9.6 cm
Width 6.7 cm x length 8.8 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.224 (Ch.00313)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

The pattern woven silk gauze in purple has a design of dotted chevron bands with a double line along one edge, separated by a band of symbols. These comprise a lozenge shape quartered into four individual diamond shapes, each containing two lines crossing diagonally, alternating with an outlined swastika. The swastika motif is very old and is found in Neolithic cultures in both Iran and Europe, and later in many different cultures world-wide. In particular, the swastika became a sacred symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Some sources indicate that it was used as an alternative symbol of the sun during the Tang dynasty. However, its plain geometrical design made it particularly suitable for weaving.

Banner, Late Tang to Five dynasties

Banner, Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.292 (Ch.00360.c)

Banner
China
Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD
Plain weave in silk, clamp-resist dyed
Width 43.6 cm x height 262 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.292 (Ch.00360.c)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This is one of seven banners in the V&A loan collection that are made of the same textiles in identical arrangement, but in different states of preservation. There is an eighth banner in the British Museum. The banner shown here is one of the most complete, although missing its arms or side streamers and probably a wooden board, to which the legs or bottom streamers would have been secured. The arms would most likely have been of plain woven blue silk, like three other banners in this group. The triangular head consists of a plain woven, and now faded, red silk border and an infill of folded plain woven cream silk with clamp-resist dyed pattern of floral lozenge-shaped clusters in blue, green, orange and yellow. There are also the remains of a string suspension loop. The body is composed of four panels with thin oval bamboo stiffeners at the upper edge of the body and then at intermediate locations where the body sections meet. These served to keep the banners from curling in along the edges.

The first and second panel consist of plain woven silk in red and yellow respectively, while the third panel’s cream-coloured silk has an all-over clamp-resist dyed pattern of repeating floral lozenge shapes in blue and orange on a faded red ground. All the banners in this group have holes in their third body panel and this is where the green centres of the clamp-resist dyed flower design have had a corrosive effect on the silk. The green areas have been dyed twice, with blue and yellow, which contained copper compounds or acidic media that tends to degrade and eat into the fabric. The fourth panel consists of one piece of plain woven yellow silk, which also makes up the four legs.

Banners make up a large group of votive works discovered in Cave 17. They were carried aloft, hooked on a staff or fluttering from the tops of the stupas (domed memorial shrines). In addition to their religious significance, they also added visual elegance to Buddhist festivities.

Floral painting, Mid-Tang to Five dynasties

Floral painting, Mid-Tang to Five dynasties, late 700-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.298 (Ch.00439)

Floral painting
China
Mid-Tang to Five dynasties, late 700-900 AD
Plain weave in silk, clamp-resist dyed and painted
Width 47 cm x height 50 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.298 (Ch.00439)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This fairly large rectangular piece of plain woven yellow silk is painted with a flower and bird design in red and blue, outlined in black. There is a naturalistic peony in the centre entwined flowers on either side. Analysis of the pigments of the paint revealed that the dark blue areas contained carbon and also identified vermilion in the dull pink areas nearby.

The painted fabric is stitched in red silk thread to a doubled piece of plain woven yellow silk, the upper layer of which has the remains of a clamp-resist dyed floral design in red and blue. These interlocking rosettes are identical to another three pieces in the British Museum and the V&A. Stein suggested that it may once have formed part of a votive patchwork.

Banner, Late Tang dynasty

Banner, Late Tang dynasty, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.621 (Ch.i.0022)

Banner
China
Late Tang dynasty, 800-900 AD
Plain and patterned weave in silk, clamp-resist dyed
Width 27 cm x height 132.7 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.621 (Ch.i.0022)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This is one of the few complete banners in the Stein loan collection at the V&A. Banners like this were given by pious donors as offerings to honour the Buddha, and this surviving banner has a dedicatory inscription in Khotanese, written across the bottom of the body panel. Khotanese, or hvatanau, was the language of the indigenous population of Khotan, the ancient kingdom located on the southern branch of the Silk Road. The ancient language belongs to the Saka group of Eastern Iranian languages. Literary documents in Khotanese, mostly translations of Buddhist literature as well as secular documents, have been found at sites between Khotan in the west and Dunhuang in the east. Khotanese was replaced in the 10th century by Uighur.

The inscription here reads: '…pasi salya rarûyi mâsta 20 6 mye hadai x thyai ahâ [yi]
pasta haiste be'ysûsta brrîyi harbîsai âvama prra[ni]-'hâna sîjîde nauda.' It translates as ‘On the 26th day of the month of rarûya in the ear of the Sheep. May troubles not come near him but as he desires [Buddhist] supreme wisdom, may all his wishes and ambitions succeed. Reverence [to the Buddha].’
The banner has a head of red silk damask on plain weave with dotted lozenge design, and a suspension loop of white silk damask on plain weave with interlocking lozenge design. The body panel is of plain woven cream silk with clamp-resist dyed pattern in yellow and red, showing roundel and lozenge, floral and bird designs. As Stein observed, there are two cranes arranged in a circle, a very characteristic motif of the Tang dynasty.

Valance, Tang dynasty

Valance, Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.622 (Ch.00280)

Valance
China
Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD
Plain, gauze and damask weave in silk
Width 179 cm x height 51.3 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.622 (Ch.00280)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Few valances have survived from such an early period. Compared with a valance (MAS.855) now in the British Museum, this is more fragmented, with only six pieces remaining: parts of the main body and five streamers. The upper part of the main body consists of a wide border of jin silk with a floral pattern on a blue ground and backed with plain weave in purple silk. A large piece of brown plain weave is stitched to the lower end of the border, and so also six triangular textiles. A knotted gauze string and a silk streamer made up of different coloured triangular tabs further decorate the valance. The other five streamers have been detached from the valance and are made of various weaves in different colours.

Similar examples of different use can be seen in the murals at the Mogao Grottoes. It may have been an altar valance or it may have hung in front of a Buddha statue. Or it may have been used as the side flaps of a canopy.

Banner head, Late Tang to Five Dynasties

Banner head, Late Tang to Five Dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.299 (Ch.0076)

Banner head
China
Late Tang to Five Dynasties, 800-900 AD
Plain and samite weave in silk
Width 82.5 cm x height 44 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.299 (Ch.0076)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This triangular silk textile would once have formed the top part of a Buddhist ritual banner. The border is of samite showing orange floral roundels on a blue ground. The infill is of plain woven red silk with a glazed appearance and shows the painted outline in pale yellow of a seated Buddha figure with eyes in black. The textile has been analysed with Raman microscopy in an attempt to identify any pigments and dyes present. It revealed that the pale yellow lines were painted with the arsenic-containing pigment, orpiment, which is fairly common in Chinese paint.

Sutra wrapper, High to late Tang dynasty

Sutra wrapper, High to late Tang dynasty, late 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.337 (Ch.liv.005)

Sutra wrapper
China
High to late Tang dynasty, late 600-800 AD
Jin silk with plain weave and damask on plain weave in silk
Width 28.5 cm x height 50 cm (body)
Width 33.5 cm x height 30.5 cm (tie)
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.337 (Ch.liv.005)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

These two pieces, the main body and tie, were separated at some time in the past. Originally, the tie would have been attached to the top of the body across one edge, with the long end free for wrapping around the scroll before being tied. The borders on the short ends of the body panel are now missing. Red silk damask, on plain weave, with lattice-work design makes up the main body of the wrapper. The body panel has been patched with two pieces of plain woven dark red silk. The borders are jin silk with a rosette medallion pattern in green, cream and orange on a blue ground.

The term jin is used to denote a textile woven with polychrome silks, as recorded in the documents dating to the Tang dynasty. It has a compound weave structure and thus has a rich pattern and is also quite a heavy fabric.

Fragments with hearts, Tang dynasty

Fragments with hearts, Tang dynasty, late 700 – early 800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.338:1 (Ch.00178)

Fragments with hearts (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
Central Asia or China
Tang dynasty, late 700 - early 800 AD
Samite silk
Width 24 cm x length 9 cm
Width 9.8 cm x length 4.2 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.338:1 (Ch.00178)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Four pieces of this samite have survived, of which one is now in the British Museum. These silk fragments show a heart-shaped petal design in red on a yellow ground. Each heart is decorated with four white dots and the top of the hearts alternates in bright blue, pink and dark blue in each row. The pattern is arranged in staggered rows, with a repeat of 4.6 cm in the warp direction and 3.3 cm in the weft direction.

A similar pattern can be seen on the costumes depicted in the mural at Balalitepe in Tocharistan. Roundels with borders consisting of hearts are common in Sogdian samite.

Large embroidery, Tang dynasty

Large embroidery, Tang dynasty, 800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.343 (Ch.0075)

Large embroidery
China
Tang dynasty, 800 AD
Plain and gauze weave in silk, satin stitch embroidery
Width 59 cm x height 97 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.343 (Ch.0075)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This fragmentary textile of embroidered gauze and plain woven silk must once have been quite astonishing in its beauty, and impressive in its size.
A terracotta red silk patterned gauze, patterned in lozenge diaper, is embroidered with leaves, flowers and clouds in red, pink, blue, green and purple silk. It is in a naturalistic style, typical of the late Tang period.

The gauze has more or less completely disintegrated to expose its plain woven terracotta red silk backing. The central embroidered piece is set in a broad plain woven silk border of pale green colour, now discoloured. The embroidery is similar to the silk embroidery of the large patchwork (MAS.856), now in the British Museum.

Banner legs with weighting board, Tang dynasty

Banner legs with weighting board, Tang dynasty, 800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.432 (Ch.0070.n)

Banner legs with weighting board
China
Tang dynasty, 9th century
Plain weave in silk and painted wood
Width 20 cm x height 32 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.432 (Ch.0070.n)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Stein retrieved seventeen wooden weighting boards for banners from Cave 17. Such boards were fastened to the bottom of banners to hold them in place and to prevent the silk legs from becoming tangled. One of these boards, with a painted red and blue flower design, still has three of its four legs attached. The ends of the three legs are turned over a bamboo slip and glued into a narrow groove along the upper edge of the board. The legs are of plain woven greenish blue silk with red stitching along the edges.

The wooden boards were heavy compared to the thin silk of the banners, and gravity would have pulled on them further. It is therefore not surprising that few banners have survived complete with weighting boards.

Tassel, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.482 (Ch.0032)

Tassel, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.482 (Ch.0032)

Tassel
China
Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD
Silk thread and metal
Width 5 cm x height 11 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.482 (Ch.0032)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This tassel is made of thick spun silk thread set in a metal alloy holders which is attached to a hanging loop of red and yellow silk wrapped around a cotton core in a knot.
A valance found in the Mogao Grottoes (now in the British Museum) has silk tufts fastened to the triangles, so silk tassels might have decorated valances. However, murals in the Mogao Grottoes depict some canopies with tassel-like decorations, for example in Cave 322, and therefore it is also possible that this tassel once hung from a canopy.

Canopy with paper flowers, Tang dynasty

Canopy with paper flowers, Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.483 (Ch.0077)

Canopy with paper flowers
China
Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD
Plain weave in hemp, samite silk and paper
Width 17.5 cm x height 17.5 cm (canopy)
Diameter 8.5 cm (largest flower)
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.483 (Ch.0077)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Stein describes these as ‘nine artificial flowers tied up in a linen square’. The square is a miniature or token canopy of plain woven hemp with a stitched down suspension of blue fabric fastened in the centre. There are remains of tufts and tassels of samite silk in each corner. It is not clear why the flowers ended up in the canopy.

The artificial flowers of various designs are made of coloured and inked paper, cut and pasted together. Some of the flowers have a square wooden disc fastened to the middle of the back by means of a central hole. This might have allowed a wooden peg to be inserted, maybe representing a stalk which was then pushed through a cloth. Artificial flowers may have been used as offerings at the many Buddhist festivals and could have been stuck to walls, ceilings or floors by devotees. Paper flowers have also been found in tombs.

Banner head, Five dynasties

Banner head, Five dynasties, 900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.490 (Ch.0086)

Banner head (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
China
Five dynasties, 900 AD
Twill damask in silk, painted
Width 86.5 cm x height 42.5 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.490 (Ch.0086)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This banner head was presented as one of the new discoveries from Chinese Central Asia in the “International Exhibition of Chinese Art” displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in October 1935. The triangular infill of folded painted cream silk damask shows a large pattern of looped and interlacing rosettes, elliptical and lozenge shapes of mixed geometrical and floral character and maybe parts of a lion. It is painted on the front and back with a haloed Buddha figure seated on a lotus with branching flowers on either side. The figure is dressed in a red mantle and yellow under-robe. One hand is in the gesture of banishing fear (abhaya-mudrã) and the other in the gesture of giving (varada-mudrã). The white and pinkish paint have blackened over time. In general, lead white based materials blacken because the lead white reacts with a sulphurous pigment or oxygen or sulphur in the environment, to produce a lead sulphide, which is black.

There are two other pieces in the V&A loan collection that were assigned with the same identification number by Stein as this triangular infill. Stein also implies that these three pieces were found together, apparently still joined to one other. One piece is a plain woven pale blue-green silk border with a hemp suspension loop and the other is a plain woven brown body panel of silk. They are both faded and fairly simple pieces compared to the painted infill. The border clearly shows the remains of seams that have been unpicked and it is likely that the original banner, probably already in a fragmented condition, was dismantled, perhaps specifically for the exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art.

Miniature canopy, Tang dynasty

Miniature canopy, Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.491:1 (Ch.00442)

Miniature canopy
China
Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD
Plain weave and damask in silk, wood
Width 11.9 cm x height 11.5 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.491:1 (Ch.00442)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Stein retrieved seventeen miniature canopies from Cave 17, of which sixteen can be found in the V&A loan collection. They are all made from different materials in various combinations, but the canopies generally measures from about 20 cm in diameter to 11 cm as in this example. Most of the canopies have remains of tassels attached to each corner and suspension loop placed in the centre.

The canopy shown here consists of two fabrics: one half is of yellow plain woven silk stitched to two quarters of blue-greenish pattern woven silk with a lozenge design. The four tassels in the corners are made of cut strips of yellow and undyed plain woven silk, while the suspension loop is made of undyed plain woven cotton. When complete the canopies would have been stretched over a framework of two bent twigs, crossed diagonally to give the umbrella shape required. Only one of the original seventeen canopies retains this framework, but this is now completely detached from the object itself.
Although these canopies are very small, they would originally have had a votive use.

Silk embroidery, Late Tang to Five dynasties

Silk embroidery, Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.525 (Ch.00281)

Silk embroidery
Central Asia
Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD
Silk gauze and plain-woven silk, embroidered
Length 102 cm x Width 28 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.525 (Ch.00281)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Stein suggested that this length of embroidered blue silk gauze once formed part of a silk hanging, perhaps similar to the embroidery LOAN:STEIN.343. Even the stitches, long and short stitch, are the same. However, after studying another piece in the National Museum of India, Japanese scholar Yamanobe Tomoyuki proposed that these pieces may have been for a garment.

The piece is embroidered in an all-over pattern of birds, butterflies and flowers on a small scale in a naturalistic Chinese style. The embroidery in different coloured silk threads is worked through both the gauze and the plain woven blue silk backing. There are traces of where the seams were joined along both long edges and also remnants of a plain woven apricot-coloured silk.

Fragments with floral medallions, Tang dynasty

Fragments with floral medallions, Tang dynasty, late 700-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.642 (Ch.00230)

Fragments with floral medallions (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
Central Asia
Tang dynasty, late 700-800 AD
Samite silk
Width 12 cm x length 27.5 cm (largest piece)
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.642 (Ch.00230)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Stein assigned one number to a group of 57 fragments of pattern woven silk, of which two are now in the British Museum. Various shapes and sizes are represented, including long narrow strips, small rectangular and triangular pieces. Four fragments have seams and several have remnants of stitching. It is unclear what the fragments would have been used for. Silks were used for both devotional and more secular use, such as money.

Putting the fragments together it is possible to reconstruct the pattern, which has a geometric floral design in yellow, pale and dark blue, white and green on a red ground. The naturalistic design favoured in the Tang dynasty has been transformed her into stepped outlines, perhaps the result of Central Asian weavers’ interpretation of an originally Chinese design. Technically, these fragments belong to the Sogdian samite textile group.

Rainbow silks, Tang dynasty

Rainbow silks, Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.658 (Ch.00488) / 639 (Ch. 00236) / 459 (Ch.00256) / 455 (Ch.00325) / 463 (Ch.00436) / 671 (Ch.00495.b) / 465 (Ch.00314)

Rainbow silks
China
Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD
Plain weave in silk
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.658 (Ch.00488) / 639 (Ch. 00236) / 459 (Ch.00256) / 455 (Ch.00325) / 463 (Ch.00436) / 671 (Ch.00495.b) / 465 (Ch.00314)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

The range of colours used at the Mogao Grottoes during the Tang dynasty covers the whole known spectrum, and after over 1000 years still are amazingly vivid and strong. Dye analysis has shown that the dyes used were a mixture of Chinese and Central Asian dyes. A large part of the textile collection from Dunhuang consists of small squares and rectangles, for example there are 17 pieces of the yellow silk and 12 of the green, all of similar small size. It is possible that these textile squares had a votive purpose, maybe as small offerings to a deity.

Floral embroidery, Tang to Five dynasties

Floral embroidery, Tang to Five dynasties, 600-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.526 (Ch.00449)

Floral embroidery
China
Tang to Five dynasties, 600-900 AD
Twill damask and plain weave in silk, satin stitch embroidery
Width 6.4 cm x height 8.4 cm (largest piece)
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.526 (Ch.00449)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

These four fragments are made of black twill damasks joined to plain weave black silk and backed with plain weave brown silk. There are various embroidered designs in red, yellow and blue silk thread, including a spiral shape. Some of the design has been painted with what is likely to be silver-coloured pigments of metallic silver, which is common in Chinese painting.

Fragments with dragon, Five dynasties

Fragments with dragon, Five dynasties, 900-1000 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.528 (Ch.00332)

Fragments with dragon
China
Five dynasties, 900-1000 AD
Complex gauze and plain weave in silk, satin and couching stitch embroidery
Width 6.5 cm x length 10.5 cm (largest)
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.528 (Ch.00332)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

These are from a group of ten rectangular fragments of purple gauze, at first apparently undecorated. However, three fragments show traces of four-clawed paws and what are possibly the curved backs of embroidered dragons. The dragons most likely once whirled around in a circle. The satin stitch embroidery in colourful silk threads of red, pink and white is outlined with paper strips covered in gold leaf. The gilded strips are couched with red thread, and the stitches have been worked through to the plain woven purple silk backing.

Embroidered Buddha, High to mid-Tang dynasty

Embroidered Buddha, High to mid-Tang dynasty, 700-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.559 (Ch.00450.c)

Embroidered Buddha (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
China
High to mid-Tang dynasty, 700-800 AD
Plain weave in silk, split stitch embroidery
Width 3.8 cm x height 3.3 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.559 (Ch.00450.c)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

The plain woven buff silk of this little fragment is completely covered with embroidery in split stitch, showing a Buddha head with halo in buff colour. The outlines and the nose are embroidered in red, while the usnisa, eyes and eyebrows are in dark blue. The fragment originally came from a hanging with row after row of embroidered seated Buddhas, now in the National Museum of India, New Delhi.

Embroidered banner borders, Late Tang to Five dynasties

Embroidered banner borders, Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.600 (Ch.00347)

Embroidered banner borders (Textiles - Room 98, Case 3)
China
Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD
Twill damask in silk, satin and couching embroidery
Width 4.9 cm x height 17.5 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.600 (Ch.00347)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

Four fragments of this embroidered black twill damask were found in Cave 17, of which one is now in the British Museum. The main motifs of half-florets are properly finished and follow the original folding. They are arranged alternately along the sides of the band, those on one side being edged with a 0.1 cm wide paper strip covered with gold leaf. Those on the opposite side are treated similarly, but with silver instead of gold leaf. It is clear that the embroidery was designed for specific use as the motifs form a band, and it is likely that they once formed part of a banner head.

Canopy, Tang dynasty

Canopy, Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.620 (Ch.00381)

Canopy
China
Tang dynasty, 600-800 AD
Plain weave in hemp, painting
Width 91 cm x height 25.5 cm x length 105 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.620 (Ch.00381)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

This full-size canopy would have hung above a Buddha statue during one of the many annual festivities held at the Mogao Grottoes in the Tang dynasty. It is a rare survival in its completeness and the only comparable pieces so far known of this early date are a group of miniature canopies, also in the V&A. The canopy is made of fairly coarse hemp in plain weave with a painted decoration, all in red, green, blue and yellow outlined in black. Painted on the central section of the canopy is an open lotus flower design surrounded by further lotuses in a circular and four-corner arrangement. This central section would have been immediately above the statue’s head. In many of the murals in the caves at the Mogao Grottoes, a Buddha figure is shown seated under a canopy with a central lotus design, for example in Cave 217 and Cave 320. The side flaps, which would have hung down on all sides, are painted with a representation of a valance with streamers. At the canopy corners, where the flaps meet the central panel, some of the hanging loops which would have been used to suspend it, are still intact. These loops may have been attached to poles which were stuck in the ground, or have hung from the ceiling. This is one of the few objects from Cave 17 which is not made of silk. Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a much cheaper material than silk and subsequently would have suited the commission from a less wealthy donor.

Clamp-resist dyed fragment, Late Tang to Five dynasties

Clamp-resist dyed fragment, Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD. Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.682 (Ch.xxii.0036)

Clamp-resist dyed fragment
China
Late Tang to Five dynasties, 800-900 AD
Plain and patterned weave in silk, clamp-resist dyed
Width 58 cm x height 31 cm
Museum no. LOAN:STEIN.682 (Ch.xxii.0036)
On loan from Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India

There are seven fragments of this textile in the V&A loan collection. All have the same Stein number and seem to originate from the same bolt of silk. A plain woven cream silk has been clamp-resist dyed in a pattern of dark blue ground with floral design in orange and green. It is possible that these fragments once formed part of a group of banners.

The technique of clamp-resist dyeing involves the use of two symmetrically carved wooden blocks, which are placed on either side of the textile and clamped together, and placed in a dyeing vat. The convex parts of the carved blocks meet and resist the dye, while the concave parts of the carved blocks allow the fabric to soak up the dye. To create this pattern, two blocks carved with symmetrical pattern in three areas, one for the ground, one flower and one leaf were used. So the colours for the pattern, orange for the flower, green for leaf and dark blue for the ground are separated very well and never overlap.