Silk costumes and textiles
Prof. Nicoletta Celli

Hanging embroidered panel with Eight Immortals
Lustrous and valuable as gold,
silk cloth is one of the most important Chinese
inventions, together with the equally momentous
development of the processes of paper making and
printing. Although a charming legend places the
discovery of the properties of silk in a
mythical age at the dawn of time, the most
recent archaeological finds confirm that the
earliest examples of silk fabric date from the
middle of the fourth millennium BC.
From this remote period on, the history
of silk is documented by numerous other finds
supported by indirect evidence illustrating
technical developments in weaving, dyeing and
embroidery, as well as the infinite uses made of
this sumptuous material.
Aside from its popularity as a clothing
material, silk was also employed as a means of
paying taxes, as a support for writing and
painting, in various forms of decoration and to
make containers for precious objects. It was
precisely thanks to this versatility that silk
became such an important item of trade.
The preciousness of this material is made
plain by another legend which tells of the
spread of the secret of silk production
throughout Central Asia thanks to a Chinese
princess, sent to marry a local potentate. This
tale provides a fictional reconstruction of the
diffusion of silk growing in the Tarim Basin
(the present-day province of Xinjiang) in around
the third century AD, an event that marked the
loss of the Chinese monopoly of silk production
and paved the way for the arrival of the
“secret” of silk in the West.
The museum collection includes several
pieces exemplifying the high levels of
refinement silk weaving attained, represented by
court dress and embroidered wall hangings used
on special occasions.
Numerous edicts were introduced
concerning appropriate court attire during the
last Chinese dynasty, culminating in 1759 in the
publication of a series of laws establishing the
proper costumes and accessories for all the
members of the court, from the emperor right
down to the lowliest official. The regulations
identified three different types of outfit:
court garb (chaofu), used on solemn, official
occasions; festive clothing (jifu), worn on less
formal occasions, and everyday dress (changfu),
suitable for all normal circumstances not
requiring ceremonial garb, such as the emperor’s
private life. The dragon-robe (longpao) is the
main item of festive dress. It was a long,
flared robe with tight sleeves, ending in
horse-hoof cuffs, and in the male imperial
version included four vertical vents (two
central ones, front and back, and two side
vents).
Longpao - Dragons' Dress
Embroidered silk
The longpao displayed is an example of the kind
of dress worn in the palace during the Qing
Dynasty. A rich and sophisticated decoration
sweeping up the robe from the bottom represents
the universe. A series of multicolored diagonal
stripes depict the waters sweeping up (lishui)
from the depths of the ocean. Mountain peaks
emerge from the frothing waves and are arranged
at the four cardinal points. The remaining
space, representing the sky, is occupied by
floating dragons, symbolizing the emperor’s
power. Only the emperor and very few other
high-ranking members of his household were
allowed to wear outfits with nine dragons (eight
visible and one hidden in the top right-hand
corner under the fold in the robe).
The five-clawed dragon (long) was strictly
speaking reserved exclusively for the sovereign
and his immediate family, although there are
several examples of this rule being flouted,
while four-clawed dragons (mang) decorated the
robes of other members of the court. A blue robe
would probably have been worn on days of fasting
and purification prior to the sacrifices
performed in the Altar of Heaven (Tiantan) in
Beijing at the winter solstice.