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In 2004 when I purchased this textile from the Dilu River area I was told that it was a Shaman's apron. Can anyone tell me if they think that this could be possible? If not, what might be the purpose of the textile? It is 87Cm by 80Cm. It is not made with a silk felt base, but rather with green satin. I would appreciate any insights.

Dear Pam
This apron looks like it has been made from four 'streamers' (with chicken feather attachments) taken either from a coat or an embroidered streamer skirt and made up into an apron with the addition of two batik side panels. The embroidered pieces with chicken feathers are typical of costumes originating in the Baibei area of Rongjiang Co..
In the book "A Picture Album of China's Miao Costumes and Ornaments' ISBN 7221052182, very similar streamers appear on a skirt from this region. The appearance of the design, in terms of colour and layout, of both your apron and that appearing in the book mentioned, seems to have undergone some changes when compared to older examples appearing in published literature and Taiwanese collections. Furthermore, your apron differs significantly in its rectangular orientation - all examples referred to show the apron (more specifically a du dou or undergarment worn beneath the outer jacket) in a "diamond" orientation. The combination with batik is in line with this area's costume although your example would again indicate a new development in design.
Regarding the appellation "shaman": I am somewhat skeptical. This term seems to be used with increasing random frequency on Guizhou textiles (and from other regions of the world it should be noted!). Furthermore, the designs components that appear in your piece are to be commonly found in costumes worn by this group and bear no indication of a singularly religious nature.

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

Thanks to everyone for their in put. I particularly liked the comment that you would not know if it is shaman's apron unless you saw it in use. I do think it could well have been pieced together, but I am not yet convinced that it was done just for the purpose of selling it. The batik does look like it was stenciled. At first I didn't think the panels could have come from a skirt because I thought they were too wide. However, from looking at Pamela's photos the skirt panel widths do seem to vary.
I am going to attach a close up of one of the panels and also June, 2005 photos of Miao women on the way to market. They are very likely from a community similar to Yangwen village, Bajie Township, Sandu pictured in Pamela's photo.

Hi Pamela

Paging through the Baby Carriers book published by the Taiwanese National Museum of Prehistory (ISBN 9789860104134) on page 151 I came across a baby carrier from Bakai, Rongjiang Co. that is possibly relevant to the discussion of Pam's textile. I wonder if it is not actually a baby carrier? This page (and detail on page 150) shows an embroidered baby carrier (66.2 X 61.4 cm) with freehand wax resist dragons on each side. In fact, the embroidered section has been sewn onto the underlying indigo-dyed wax resist panel. The central portion of this carrier is divided in two embroidered sections with the lower section being four unique and separate strips. There are similarities in the construction of this carrier with Pam's although the embroidery techniques are quite different. At present unfortunately no permission granted by the NMP to post images from this fantastic book - sorry!

Thank you Iain for this pointer to Pam's textile perhaps being a babycarrier. Just a comment on the embroidery being different on the one in the (indeed fantastic) Baby Carriers book published by the Taiwanese National Museum of Prehistory from Pam's. If you look at my photos of Yangweng village of Bajie township, Sandu county you might be able to see in the photos that there are two styles of embroidery design used on the festival clothing even in this one village with the geometric - as in the BC book - and swirly figurative as in Pam's textile. Of course the side panels in the BC book are clearly wax resist as I would expect to see and the designs are those usually seen in banners and headcloth lengths and not apparently executed in stencil as in Pam's edge pieces. I can recall being with Gina Corrigan in Miao villages when she has been chasing the possibility of stenciling which has been rumoured to be in particular villages but not being able to find any confirmation of it.

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Pamela

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

The mention of stencilled 'batik' brought to mind something I recall seeing in the museum in Kaili: it appears to be a textile produced in this manner along with stencils which are probably made of animal hide (much like the 'wayang kulit', or shadow puppets from Java and Bali). This stencil and textile seems to be decorated with dots, rather than short lines like Pam's. I'm wondering if the resist is wax or some kind of paste?

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Susan Stem

http://www.tribaltrappings.com
http://tribaltrappings.blogspot.com/

today I sent Ann Goodman her digest of posts on the forum for the past week. This has stimulated her to respond:

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Pamela

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

Just looking through again on resist work and I wonder if this last "banner" piece actually belongs to an ethnic minority.... indeed if it is it has totally appropriated Han Chinese symbols. Yes Taoist with the central panel showing the bagua hexagrams surrounded by symbols commonly associated with the Eight Immortals.
I wonder if the lower two images are not actually qilin instead of lions. The dragon head (with whiskers intact), fish scale body and hooves all suggest this is a qilin.
There is also a delightful representation, just above the qilin, of the ancient symbol for longevity "shou" in the form of an abstract tortoise.

Hi Iain,

As ever good when you pop up and make one of your interesting contributions to the forum.

I directed Ann Goodman to your comment and received the following email from her in response:

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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.

Thanks Pam!

I love it when 'mature' threads are rejuvenated!

Ann Goodman has been in touch after receipt of her weekly digest and sent a photo of a similar textile in her collection which I attach plus her comments:

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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.