- Index - Exhibition
- The Exhibition OF Mawangdui Han Tombs
- 1.A Great Archaeological Discovery
- 2.Walking into the Family of the Marquis of Dai
- --Li Cang’s Family
- --An Extravagant Life
- --The Beauty of Lacquerware
- --The Brilliance of the Silk Country
- --The Treasure on Silk and Inscribed Slips
- 3.Set of Painted Coffins with a Big Outer Coffin
- 4.Everlasting Remains
- 5.Gallery
- The Exhibition of Shang and Zhou Bronzes Found in Hunan
- The Exhibition of Ceramics from Famous Kilns in Hunan
- Exhibition of Calligraphies in the Ming and Qing Dynasty
- Exhibition of Paintings Created in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
- Exhibition of Ten New Major Archaeological Discoveries in Hunan
The Brilliance of the Silk Country
China was the first country to engage in sericulture, silk reeling and silk weaving. During the Han dynasty, silk was continuously exported to West Asia and Europe, thus earning China the right to be called the “Silk Country”. The more than 100 pieces of textiles and clothing unearthed from Tombs No.1 and No.3 are mostly silk fabrics, with the exception of only a few pieces of hemp cloth. A variety of silk textiles were found, including thin silk, fine silk, gauze, damask, brocade and so on. The varied techniques involved dyeing, embroidery, printing, and colour painting. These pieces clearly attest to the accomplishments in textile technology of the early Han dynasty. In particular, the four-season clothing unearthed from Tomb No.1 demonstrates well both the clothing of the noble ladies and the dress of the early Han dynasty.
Brocade with Piled Circles in Geometric Pattern
Length 60cm width 24 cmUnearthed from Tomb No.3
This is a kind of brocade with a raised pattern obtained by weaving warps in pairs. With the piling technique, big and small circles in relief are richly and beautifully formed. It reveals a kind of brocade-weaving technique both invented and developed in the Han dynasty.
Gauze Gown in Plain Colour
Length 128cm overall length of sleeves 190cmUnearthed from Tomb No.1
The gown, consisting of a jacket and a skirt, has a crossed collar, a flap extending diagonally from left to right, and a straight skirt. It is hemmed with brocade with piled circles in a geometric pattern. The gauze is extremely fine. For this gown, the piece of gauze which has of an area around 2.6 square meters weighs only 49g. It is called as “thin as a cicada wing” and as “light as smoke”, which represents the highest level of silkworm raising, silk reeling and weaving of the early Han Dynasty.
Damask Gown with “Xin Qi Embroidery”
Length 155cm overall length of sleeves 243cmUnearthed from Tomb No.1
The gown has a crossed collar, a flap extending diagonally from left to right, and a skirt widening as it falls. It has a surface layer of damask with a lozenge pattern and “Xin Qi Embroidery”, a lining of thin silk in plain colour, and is padded with silk wadding in between the two layers. It is hemmed with brocade with piled circles in a geometric pattern.
Gauze Gown with Printed and Colour Painted Design
Length 130cm overall length of sleeves 236cmUnearthed from Tomb No.1
This gown has a crossed collar, a flap extending diagonally from left to right, and a straight skirt. It has a surface layer of crimson gauze with printed and colour painted design, a lining of gauze in a plain colour, and is padded with silk wadding in between the two layers. 23 meters of gauze with the knot width of 50cm, equivalent to two and a half knots in the Han scale, were used.
Mitts with “Xin Qi Embroidery” and “Qian Jin” Ribbons
Length 24.8cmUnearthed from Tomb No.1
This is a pair of mitts of the type with open-ended finger-tubes. The palms are made of damask with “Xin Qi Embroidery” and bordered at upper and lower ends with “Qian Jin” Ribbons.
Silk Shoes
Length 26cm width at head 7cmUnearthed from Tomb No.1
This is a pair of shoes worn by the Marquise of Dai. The surface is knitted using silk threads; the bottom is knitted using hemp threads.






