In which dynasty did grass and wood dyeing originate?

I. The rise of traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing art (before the Five Emperors and the Five Emperors)

It is generally believed that: the dyeing activity in China was synchronized with the origin of fiber fabrics.

China is the inventor of "silk", the development of fiber (silk) is very early, silk dyeing is also very early.

But the author believes that the concept of dyeing can be traced back to the development of cave culture.

From the beginning of totem worship, human beings used leaves, wild fruits, flowers, color juice in the human body, accessories and household items dyed rich colors, painted symbols and images; in the understanding of the flint wood fire, people use the fire to cook, warmth, and the burning charcoal ash dyed gray, black.

The application of these primitive materials bred the dyeing technology for the art of grass and wood dyeing.

According to available information, the Paleolithic caveman "dressed with hematite dye", they also know how to color the stone beads in the decorations.

Developed to the late Neolithic (about 4000-5000 years ago).

Our ancestors began dyeing with natural pigments, dyeing linen red and using grass and wood pigments to create "decorative patterns" on objects.

However, these are just the continuation and further development of the caveman's red powder (primitive witchcraft, ritual), aesthetic and artistic is still not independent and differentiated, they are only latent in the primitive witchcraft and ritual totemic activities.

It was not until the time of Emperor Xuanyuan that people used the juice of grasses and trees to dye and make garments.

These grass and wood dyed clothes were the first real aesthetic art of grass and wood dyeing.

Legend has it that China had a system of clothing at the time of the Three Wongs and the Five Emperors, as evidenced by the ancient "Xuan Yi, Yellow Clothes".

According to the above analysis, it can also be seen that the art of grass and wood dyeing generally through other forms of re-creation or combined with other crafts can be realized, such as the Yangshao culture period, the people of the grass and wood ash and mineral pigments combined with daily life on the utensils for dyeing activities.

In addition, according to archaeological discoveries, the cave murals of the period also left some traces of grass and wood dyeing activities, as well as the dyeing of clothing mentioned above, the following mentioned "drawing and coloring", printing and dyeing, etc., most of them are not independent of each other, so the author puts the early in the stone, pottery on the grass and wood dyeing art activities are also summarized.

From the original

From primitive witchcraft, ritual totems to "meaningful" aesthetic extension, the most primitive art.

The use of grass and wood dyes for decorative purposes and as an artistic service to people's daily lives is the origin of the traditional art of grass and wood dyeing in China, and it has also contributed to the technical and artistic development of the art of grass and wood dyeing.

The characteristics of these primitive grass and wood dyeing arts are summarized in the expression of "Significant form".

The form of each period and there is a certain difference, from the pattern, Yangshao-type decorations more animal images and animal patterns, and to the Neolithic era is not an animal pattern, but an abstract geometric pattern (straight lines, curves, water, triangles, serrated pattern, spiral pattern, etc.), from the reproduction to the expression of the real to the symbolic.

It can be seen that the abstract geometric ornamentation is not some kind of formal beauty, but the abstract form of content, sensory perception of the concept.

Second, the development of traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing art (Xia Dynasty - North and South Dynasties)

The development of traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing art can be divided into two stages:

The first stage, the period of slave society.

This period is the maturity of the dyeing technology, traditional grass and wood dyeing art in this period is still based on ornamentation, the style towards a calm and mysterious, with a kind of caracal beauty.

(1) Technical maturity.

According to records, the Xia Dynasty began to artificially plant plants used for dyeing, and mastered their growth patterns.

China's forefathers were able to use orchids for dyeing in that period, and the dyed products made were mainly used for clothes making and made into accessories for the body.

Into the written history of our country, according to the oracle bone inscriptions and gold inscriptions in the records: the dyeing technology of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties was further developed, the technology of plant dyeing material has a considerable level, mastered the dyeing technology of many plants.

The Zhou Dynasty created a number of sets of dyeing technology, until the modern dyeing industry is still much in use.

Beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, with the silk and silk production-based dyeing and weaving industry became an important sector of social production at that time, grass and wood dyeing was also able to develop rapidly.

In this period of many documents, can also be confirmed:

"is mowing is spreading, for the creation of the complex, the service is not to cause".

The meaning is to weave fine cloth, ah weave coarse cloth, make clothes to wear not tired of.

There are many other poems that describe the use of kudzu, mulberry, and hemp to weave cloth in the State Winds of the Classic of Poetry, as well as in the major and minor elegance poems.

In those days, dyeing and weaving was an important part of a woman's life.

The palm of the spring and autumn convergence of dyeing and weaving, with the power to measure, in order to wait for the time to be awarded (Zhou Li).

This sentence is a description of the duties of the position of "master of the dyed grass" at that time.

In addition, according to pre-Qin writings and some unearthed artifacts show that there was also a dyeing technology to study the professional information, fabric production standards.

Such as: the Western Zhou period on the fabric dyeing standards have been strictly regulated, and the use of mallard feathers as a dye *** standard.

By the late Spring and Autumn period, China's grass and wood dyeing technology has been quite mature.

The varieties of dyed grass and dyeing process, the use of mordant and many other aspects, there is a set of mature management system.

Set "dyeing people" in charge of dyeing silk, all dyeing, spring storm practice, autumn dyeing summer, in charge of all dyeing things.

In this period, there has been widespread use of vegetable dyes containing tannic acid, black with mordant, mordant for the green vanadium.

Indigo was the most common dye at that time, and it was also possible to readily reduce the precipitated indigo mud to dye again.

(2) The art of grass and wood dyeing is mysterious, with a kind of caracal beauty.

The establishment of slavery led to the emergence of a group of sorcerers specialized in serving the ruling class, who were the original group of thinkers.

They fantasized about some mysterious and intimidating animal face tattoos and believed that they had great primitive power.

In this case the art of grass and wood dyeing also went mystical, with a kind of caracal beauty and austere style.

The second phase, Qin, Han, Wei, Jin and North and South Dynasties.

This period is the continuous expansion of the scale of dye cultivation, as well as the completion of the dye preparation period, grass and wood dyeing in the art of purification, the level of art has improved.

China's Qin and Han Dynasties, when people in the dyeing practice found the contrasting relationship between dyeing and blanks, and realized that some control of the dyeing area and the shape of the dyeing can form the pattern of blanks, so the anti-dyeing technology began to appear, which means that the art of pure grass and wood dyeing was also gradually formed.

At that time, some ethnic minority areas in the southwest first appeared to use wax as anti-dyeing agent to dye flowers: use melted wax to draw a pattern on the fabric, and then immersed in the dye to dye and cook out the wax.

At that time, indigo was mostly used, and a small amount of purple and red.

After dyeing, the wax pattern was removed and the fabric became white flowers on a colorful ground or white flowers on a colorful background.

Due to the contraction of the wax after condensation or rubbing, many cracks are produced, and after dyeing, the coloring material penetrates into the cracks, and a trace of irregular texture often appears on the finished product, forming a unique decorative effect, and the method of batik is still in use today.

In ancient times, it was called "Rendering Spotted Cloth", and in modern times, it is called "Batik Flower Cloth".

Ornamental batiks began to appear in the Han Dynasty.

The art of batik was continued in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, and is still popular in the southwest, especially in Yunnan.

By the North and South Dynasties, the art of dyeing was more prominent in the emergence of textured val, which is also called "handful of val", "handful of flowers", "handful of halo val", and is known as "tie-dye". "tie-dye".

This is a mechanical anti-dyeing method: first fold the fabric, handful, tied or nailed with a line sewing, tightening, that is, into a small knot, and then dip-dyeing, removing the tie, that is, the appearance of white patterns.

(1) the expanding scale of dye cultivation, and the complete period of dye preparation.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the cultivation of dye plants was expanding.

(1) The variety of cultivation increased, and the variety of colors was richer.

The colors on silk fabrics amounted to more than 20 kinds, and the textile color names listed in the records of the Eastern Han Dynasty reached 39 kinds.

At that time, the plant dyes planted mainly; cress, bluegrass, sumac, comfrey, oak bucket, etc., cress is the most important red plant dyes.

② Expansion of cultivation.

Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian - Cargo Shik Lianzhuan" documented that "a thousand acres of cissus, its people and thousands of marquis, etc.", it can be seen that the planting of plant dyes during the Han Dynasty is very large, has become a large-scale.

By the time of the Wei, Jin, and North and South Dynasties, the preparation of plant dyes has been quite complete, and can be used for year-round storage.

Jia Si-feng in his "Qi Min Yao Shu" has this record: mowing blue upside down to the pit in the middle, under the water, with wood and stone suppression, so no.

When the heat is hot, it can be used as a heat source, so it can be used as a heat source.

Hot overnight, cold overnight, liquefied to the diamond, the juice in the urn.

The rate of ten stone urn, with a bucket of lime five liters, the rapid attack, a meal stop.

Clarify and remove the water.

Do not make a small pit, stored in the blue precipitation table pit.

Waiting for strong porridge, but also out of the urn to hold it, blue precipitation into it.

This is also the first time in China to introduce in writing the method of indigo production from bluegrass.

(2) the art of grass dyeing towards purification, the level of art has improved.

In form, the dyed fabrics were combined with painting and embroidery.

Various colors of fabrics, although the formation of color changes, but still can not meet the growing material and cultural needs and aesthetic needs, so there is a "painting" decorative fabrics.

The combination of painting and embroidery can form a beautiful artistic effect.

In terms of content, due to the change in social ideology, coupled with the completion of the dyeing technology, dye preparation and many other conditions, the art of grass and wood dyeing began to move towards purely formal beauty in this period.

Folk art was highly developed in this period, and the art of grass and wood dyeing, like many folk arts at that time, was emphasized on its decorative nature, and the artistic level was improved, and the style was ancient and elegant, and beautiful.

Third, the prosperity of traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing art (Sui Dynasty - the middle of the Qing Dynasty)

This period is the traditional grass and wood dyeing process technology is more comprehensive, achievements.

Into the Sui and Tang dynasties, China's grass and wood dyeing technology is more comprehensive, and has reached a very high level.

"Tang six canon" contains: "Where the dyeing of grass and trees, there are flowers and leaves, there are stems and real, there are roots and skins, out of the square soil, picking the time of the month".

Description of grass and wood dyeing is far more widely used than other dyeing, becoming the most important method of dyeing and technology in the Tang Dynasty.

From the point of view of the color designation used, also proved this point, such as orange-red, apricot yellow, orange, grass green, bean green and so on.

The textile industry in the Tang Dynasty was very developed, the more famous are the silk of Songzhou, Yizhou, Yangzhou brocade.

The use of plant dyes in the textile production process has reached the point of perfection in this period.

The Tang Dynasty, the establishment of the Dyeing Institute, there are some new printing and dyeing process, such as Dunhuang, Gansu, unearthed in the Tang Dynasty with the topography of the letterpress group of fruit on the beasts of the silk, reflecting the development of letterpress printing technology.

There are also alkali as a dye pulling agent in the silk Luo printing, so that the alkali dissolved at the silk stranded into white to show flowers; powdered glue paste as a dyeing agent printing, brush color and then take off the glue paste to show flowers; with hollow cardboard printed into the large family of folded branches of the two-color printing Luo; powdered glue hollow plate anti-dyeing and dyeing method, and so on, have contributed to the prosperity of the art of grass and wood dyeing.

This pulp hollow plate anti-dyeing dyeing and printing out of the product, to the Song Dynasty called "medicine spot cloth", but the stencil is more fine, adjusting the pulp technology has been improved.

The Song Dynasty "medicine spot cloth" is often "green and white text", which is the predecessor of the popular folk blue printed cloth.

The dyeing records of the Song Dynasty, according to Fang Yizhi in the "Tong Ya - Volume 37" cited in the literature said: "Renzong late years of the capital dyed purple, change its color and aggravation, the first dyeing for the green, and Xu to the comfrey plus dyeing, called oil purple.

...... Chunxi in the north of the purple dyeing is very sharp, China, the eye for the northern purple.

Cover not first with the green, and change the scarlet for the foot, with less violet grass, it is possible to take away the Zhu ...... "Yang Shen in the Ming Dynasty in the" Dan Lead General Records "said:" Yuan Dynasty dyeing workers have clamped longevity of the name, and other Tang Jie, bracelet Jie, pulp water Jie, three sets of Jie, green silk spot Jie name.

By the Ming and Qing dynasties, can be used for dyeing plant species to expand again.

Domestic production of plant dyes can not only self-sufficiency, there are a considerable number of exports, including safflower made of cochineal sheep on a large number of lost to Japan at the time.

According to the relevant data, the cultivation of dyestuff plants, the technology of dyestuff application, and the process of preparation in China reached its heyday, and the dyeing houses also had a great development.

Shanghai's dyeing workshop, Qianlong when someone described: "Dyeing blue workshop, dyeing azure, light green, white under the moon; there are red workshop, dyeing red, dew peach red; there are bleaching workshop, dyeing yellow and brown for the white; there are miscellaneous colors workshop, dyeing yellow, green, black, purple, shrimp, green, and Buddha face gold, etc.".

In addition, the Qing Dynasty established the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, specializing in the royal aristocratic weaving and dyeing things, under the management of the three main dyeing institutions are Jiangning Bureau, Suzhou Bureau, Hangzhou Bureau.

'The development of dyes in the Qing Dynasty was also developed, with more varieties, reaching dozens of types.

The art of grass and grass dyeing became diversified, and the literati's intervention brought a new aesthetic mood to it.

The period from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the middle of the Qing Dynasty was a period of prosperity for traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing.

From the perspective of the turnaround of ancient social development, the Tang Dynasty, is one of the three major turnarounds of ancient Chinese society.

The changes in the social turnaround were also starkly manifested in the entire ideology, including the ideals of literature and art or beauty.

Beginning with the Tang Dynasty, the involvement of the literati in the field of fine arts became more common in China.

They inherited the traditional art of grass and wood dyeing with the character and temperament of the literati, and at the same time, they also brought a new aesthetic mood to the art of grass and wood dyeing, that is, ethereal.

Of course, there are also slight changes in each period, such as the early Tang dynamic and elegant, the Song Dynasty is more "delicate".

Fourth, the decline of traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing art (late Qing Dynasty - Republic of China)

(1) The end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, with the foreign raw materials and mechanical preparation began to flow into the Chinese market, the traditional plant material development space is squeezed.

The traditional Chinese art of grass and wood dyeing went into decline.

Since the Qianlong period, the western winds have spread to the east, and western commodities have been imported into China day by day.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a big change in China's clothing, and in the Republic of China, a large number of mechanical preparations were introduced, and the traditional handicrafts declined.

China's industry in various fields by the Western influence.

The foreign raw materials of clothing also attracted domestic consumers, and gradually occupied the domestic market, the formation of the "new" "Western" trend.

At the same time, some chemical dyes also began to flow into China, and gradually in the dyeing process, such as the use.

Foreign raw materials and mechanical preparation due to low production costs, speed and other advantages, quickly adopted in the spinning and dyeing process, the traditional manual printing and dyeing process gradually declined.

(2) From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the field of art was greatly influenced by the West.

Although the traditional art of grass and wood dyeing was relatively less affected.

However, due to the influence of western dyes and preparations in the process, the traditional grass and wood dyeing art was only developed in the southwest.

At that time in Dali, Yunnan, home tie-dyeing was already very common, and towns such as Zhoucheng and Xizhou, which were known for their intensive tie-dyeing workshops based on one-family households, had already become tie-dyeing centers with a reputation that spread in all directions; at this time, batik was prevalent in most of the Miao ethnic groups in western Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and southern Sichuan, and the highest level of skill was seen in Guizhou's Dangzhai, Anshun, Langdai (today's Liuzhi), Puding, and Huishui.

Most of the regions use the finished batik products as clothing, while the western part of Hunan is used as bed sheets, tent edges, pillowcases, etc.

From the time of its production, the batik products have been used in many different ways.

In terms of its artistic style, it is basically inherited from the tradition without much change, only the color is more gorgeous and the production is more delicate.

Art is the embodiment of philosophy, art is always with its own unique form to indicate a certain cultural psychology, showing the deep foundation of this cultural consciousness.

From the Stone Age to the Republic of China, the art of traditional Chinese grass and wood dyeing has always evolved and transmuted along with the development of nature and society, and went into decline in the Republic of China.

However, in contemporary times, with the improvement of people's environmental protection concept, the grass and wood dyeing technology has been upgraded again, and the new grass and wood dyeing art has been gradually combined with other art forms, and entered into the field of contemporary art, and has been developed.

In the contemporary era, the environmental advantages of traditional grass and wood dyeing and the formation of contemporary visual aesthetic regional differentiation style for China's textile and garment industry to comply with the international market competition, improve the value-added products, the implementation of the domestic garment "to produce the top of the" strategy, to obtain a new competitive advantage to provide new ideas for development.

In China's textile and apparel industry from "Made in China" to "China to create" upgrade, will play a huge role.

At present, we are pleased to see that the traditional grass and wood dyeing art through the "art of dyeing and finishing", with a unique and original language of craftsmanship, to obtain the world's clothing trends, "the right to speak".

In addition, the traditional grass and wood dyeing art in home decoration, packaging design, graphic design and enhance the brand of tourism industry also has its important value, it is simple, beautiful art quality to meet the contemporary people back to the simple aesthetic psychological needs.