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 cm
Unearthed 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.