A Study On Resist Dyeing During The Han And Tang Dynasties

Traditional dyeing of China has played an important role in the Chinese silk art history for thousands of years.Relief-block printing was used in the Qin and Han dynasties,and was gradually replaced by the resist dyeing which was created in the Han and Wei dynasties.In the Tang dynasty,resist dyeing grew in popularity,and was exported overseas.Resist dyeing then disappeared due to prohibition.This thesis focusing on the resist dyeing of the Han dynasty and Tang dynasty,tries to clarify the development process of the resist dyeing,and makes a more comprehensive analysis.With analyzing archaeological documents,pictures,ancient documents and fabrics,the thesis studies the origin and spread of the resist dyeing,and find out the reason why four forms of resist dyeing could come to being in historical contexts.Meanwhile,through classifying the resist dyeing under forms and artistic performance,this thesis finds that the technology has a direct influence on the figure of the resist dyed pattern.Based on the ample archaeological material and collections,this study also engaged in pattern reconstruction.From the well-recovered pattern,some rules could be found in printing patterns and arrangement.At the same time,this thesis analyzes four forms of the resist dyeing in terms of the fabric,dyeing laws and technologies.Among them,the plant pattern is one of the most frequent-used resist dyed patterns.Moreover,its designs are diverse.Comparing the woven patterns with the resist dyeing patterns,the thesis analyzes the similarity of the motifs and the difference of the representations between these two pattern designs.This study try to contribute to the development of Chinese traditional dyeing research,and provide a rich set of data for this field.In brief,this thesis describes and summarizes the use of the resist dyeing in clothing,living appliances and other decorative supplies in the Han and Tang dynasties.The resist dyeing was highly and frequently used in decoration.However,limited by its technical difficulty,generally,the resist dyeing was occupied by upper class in ancient times.