Tang Dynasty. 8^th-9^th Centuries

China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou

Inv. No. 2506

L133cm, H220cm

The technology of gauze production was rather complicated; it is probably for this reason that this textile is only rarely found in excavations of the tombs dating from the Wei to the Tang Dynasties. By the eighth to the ninth century gauze manufacture was sufficiently well developed, with the result that it was used more extensively. This fabric was particularly suitable for outer clothing or robes. Tang documents frequently mention the use of gauze and the Collection of Verses for Dance by Xue Neng has this to say:

On stage in the new building,

Girls are singing and dancing,

A flurry of moves and shaking,

Her shoulders gauze is slipping.

The materials mentioned must be very thin. Patterned gauze materials made into more formal costumes have been unearthed from a depository at the Famen Temple, a total of 15 jackets and 15 robes. But this is a very rare example among extant robes of thin gauze in good condition. (ZF)