tribaltextiles.info

Pam

I am glad the forum finally turned friendly and allowed you to post this interesting piece.

Yes, as Iain says, the central part of the textile look like 4 of the panels usually used on a festival coat - for a man or a woman - or, but usually a bit narrower, for an over skirt. A skirt would probably have a piece of plain indigo fabric at the top (but not the bottom) from which the flying panels would hang. It is unusual to see these panels stitched together to make a solid textile rather than falling separately and allowing considerable movement when worn.

I cannot recall having seen a textile quite in the style of your textile especially with added wax resist. The Miao who make the silk felt applique coats and skirts do also do wax resist and it is an important part of the costume and also used for banners. Again, as Iain says, the aprons worn as part of every-day costume by the women are usually squares worn en-point. The addition of chicken feathers is a very usual decoration in the region (and chickens are often shown in embroidery.)

If it has been made for a shaman it might be a piece to spread out as more of a cloth. Unfortunately the epithet 'shaman' can be frequently used and may or may not be true. Unless it has actually been collected when being used it is difficult to ever prove it.

This may be one of those textiles that we have to remember and hope to spot in illustrations or in the field in the future.

I am going to add some photos taken in May 2005 at Yangweng village of Bajie township, Sandu county, Guizhou province of some Miao women wearing festival coats and dancing with Miao men dressed in buffalo costumes and as women. No shaman. I am also showing the every-day costume worn under the festival coats which includes an apron. (I have a set of the everyday costume except the beautiful burnished indigo shorts. I regret so much that I did not overide my concern for the modesty of the girl to buy the shorts as well!)

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

I’d just like to comment that the resist on the two sides looks to be stencilled paste resist rather than free-hand wax resist. As far as I’m aware, this group never produced paste resist, their batik always being similar to that seen on the aprons shown in the photos posted by Pamela.

Yes indeed, Andrew!

The designs of the resist do look very much as if they would have been applied by stencil - and probably paste resist - rather than by wax knife.

I did keep thinking yesterday that the designs were so unlike the wax resist designs of the various Miao groups in the area including the apron shown in my posts and also the leggings. Also much thicker and 'blockier'.

Of course, as very much our wax resist expert, your eagle eyes should be picking up these things!

This could suggest that Pam's textile might have been made up from various pieces of textiles from different sources. It does not mean that the piece has not been made for a shaman but....

Just as an aside re a different group, the Ge Jia are certainly using machine printed textiles as part of their costume but here the designs are imitating their original designs. I have some photos of this somewhere.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

_________________
Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

I am adding two batik quilt covers similar to the last one Ann posted. Both were purchased in Guizhou and were identified as Dong from Sansui County, which often shows more influence from Han Chinese styles than many other Dong/Miao areas of SE Guizhou.

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Below is a quilt cover (quilt cover 001) very similar to the ones posted by Ann and Pam. When I collected it in Kaili in 2001, the seller described it as a ‘dou ran’ (paste resist) quilt cover from Hunan province, made using a large stencil and what I assumed would have been a soya bean based paste resist. I was told that Hunan merchants would come to Guizhou with their stencils and produce these quilt covers for the local people.

In the book “The Rhythms of Blue” (published by the National Museum of Prehistory, Taiwan), there is a short section on ‘xing ran’ (stencil resist dying). Quilt cover 003 below comes from this book and is described as being made by the Han Chinese of Mayang in Hunan province, using starch powder and an alkali mix.

I also include a photo from the book showing a selection of cloths hanging out to dry, including a quilt cover which is similar to the first one posted by Pam having a white background with a blue patterns (suggesting these items are still being made).

There is also a type of “dou ran” that was occasionally used by the Gejia, also said to be produced by merchants from Hunan, that is usually found as long tying bands for baby carriers. In the wonderful book “Miao Costumes of South East Guizhou” published by Fu Ren University, Taiwan, there is a very fine example (page 406/407) said to date from around 1940 (see photo 001 below), and in the “Baby Carriers” book published by the National Museum of Prehistory, Taiwan, there is another example (page 162) (see photo 002 below). I also include photos of an unusual Gejia child’s jacket made using the same type of cloth. Note that the pattern on the child’s jacket seems to be exactly the same as the pattern on the ties of carrier 002 and both claim to have come from Fengxiang village. Also, the style of the embroidered baby carrier and the embroidered sleeves on the jacket look considerably older than the 1940s, so this style of stencil resist is possibly/probably older than that found on the ties of baby carrier 001. The use of this type of “dou ran” cloth was an obvious sign of family wealth.