Historical origin of batik

Interpretation of "Batik" in Wang Aijun's "Junyou Club Collection": Batik is an ancient dyeing method, which is called Batik in Indonesia or Malaysia and Wax Curtain (also known as Batik) in Japan. The pattern dyed in this way has both artistic and decorative interest and practical value. Batik art has a long history in China. According to the second instrument, it was dyed in the Qin and Han Dynasties and became popular in the Six Dynasties. The court of Sui Dynasty especially loved this kind of handicraft, and special patterns appeared. As for the unearthed objects, they are earlier than the literature records. There is a quilt with unknown pattern in the Chu Tomb of the Warring States Period in Changsha. There is also a finished product unearthed in the Jin Dynasty, the pattern is overlapping spotted flowers, which is the so-called agate valerian in the Tang and Song Dynasties. China batik was particularly popular in the Tang Dynasty, and its technology was much more mature. Batik at that time can be divided into monochromatic dyeing and polychromatic dyeing; Multicolor dyeing can register up to four or five colors. Later generations can get a glimpse of the luxury and exquisiteness of batik patterns in the Tang Dynasty from the clothes of two women in Zhang Xuan's Ramming Map and the clothes of several riding figures in Mrs. Guo You Chuntu. Due to the great influence of China culture on Japan in the Tang Dynasty, the Masakura Institute in Nara has preserved various China craft treasures since the Tang Dynasty, including a set of wax valerian screens, which were also brought back by Japanese monks studying in the Tang Dynasty. Batik declined in China from the Song Dynasty, but it was very popular in all parts of South Asia (especially in Java, Sumatra and other islands). Up to now, almost all ordinary clothes in Indonesia and Malaysia are made of batik cloth. Batik is a traditional skill handed down from generation to generation by Miao people in Danzhai County, Anshun County and zhijin county. It was called Wawali in ancient times and Wutu in Miao language, which means batik clothing.

Danzhai County, Anshun County and zhijin county are multi-ethnic areas with Miao as the main body. In the harsh environment of long-term isolation from the outside world, the residents here have gradually formed a self-sufficient lifestyle, and the ancient batik skills have been preserved. According to Miao custom, all women have the obligation to inherit batik skills, and every mother should teach her daughter to make batik. So Miao girl learned this skill from an early age. They grow indigo cotton, spin and weave, wax, dip-dye and cut it, which is passed down from generation to generation. In this situation, these Miao inhabited areas have formed a custom culture dominated by batik art, such as costumes, wedding and funeral customs, social ways, funeral customs and so on.

Miao batik is an art created for producers' own needs, and its products are mainly daily necessities, including women's clothes, sheets, quilts, wrapping cloth, headscarves, backpacks, bags, suspenders and funeral sheets. Generally speaking, the utilization of dyeing materials and the invention and application of dyeing technology should be earlier than batik process. In other words, the production of batik technology will inevitably go through a long process of understanding and applying dyeing materials. This indispensable link and process laid the foundation for the formation of wax anti-dyeing process. Tracing back to history, cavemen in China used mineral pigments for coloring in the Paleolithic Age. According to the China Encyclopedia, as early as 3000 BC, China had used plant dyes such as madder, indigo, indigo and safflower for coloring. India only used madder and indigo in 2500 BC, 500 years later than China. In 2000 BC, Isatis indigotica and Carthamus tinctorius were used in Egypt, which was later than China 1000. It can be seen that the history of textile printing and dyeing in China is very long. Here, we study the germination and development of China dyeing, just to discuss some basic situations before batik.

It is very difficult to explore the origin of batik. This research is based not only on written records, but also on the discovery of objects. Unfortunately, the most commonly used batik items in ancient life were used by the poor, and most people's lives were simple. Therefore, the physical objects of ancient batik are really few and far between, and they can't compare with the largest and most luxurious textiles left by the nobles of the palace after their death. This situation is bound to bring difficulties to batik research in China. So, how to study this precious heritage? In addition to written records and unearthed objects, there is also a very important aspect, which is to rely on logical reasoning for analysis and judgment, so that the study of China batik is convincing. Although these inferences may not be perfect, they can also provide a way of thinking for further research. Therefore, it can be considered that from the use of a single mineral pigment by cavemen in Beijing to a variety of dyes later; It must have gone a long and tortuous way from the single color painting of primitive ancestors to the later diversified color impregnation, mordant dyeing and overprint dyeing. But the general trend of its occurrence and development should be this: from the use of colored materials, the ancients developed from using natural colored materials (directly using colored natural materials) to using natural colored materials through processing (grinding and mixing natural materials to form colors), or both. From the object of color decoration, the ancients developed from using color to coloring objects (painted pottery, clothing, etc. In terms of fabric dyeing technology, the ancients developed from a single hand-painted color to a variety of methods (painting, embroidery, printing, dyeing prevention, etc.). ), or all at the same time.

By comparing written records with unearthed objects, the above inference can be further confirmed. According to the research of historians, people's understanding and application of colors and dyes is much earlier than that of textile colors. The behavioral experience of human beings in using color: "Human beings began to paint themselves (tattoos)-and developed to paint objects." Archaeological data prove that the earliest color recognized by human beings is red, and cavemen in Beijing began to use red mineral pigments 50,000 years ago. "In the late Paleolithic period, people in China already knew about dyeing. Hematite (ochre) powder, red lacquer beads, fish bones and other decorations were found in the cave site in Zhoukoudian, Beijing. More paintings were made in the Neolithic Age. The wine vessels unearthed from Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province and the painted pottery unearthed from Xi 'an Banpo site have many colors such as red, white, black, brown and orange. The pigments used at that time were mostly powder made of ore. In addition to powdered ochre, cinnabar was also found in Liuwan cemetery in Ledu, Qinghai. Tools such as painting and grinding have been found at the site of Yin Xi Village in Xia County, Shaanxi Province. The powder of these minerals was used to color textiles.

In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, dyeing technology was not only used in clothing, but also widely used mineral dyes (stone dyeing) and plant dyes (grass dyeing). Among mineral dyes, cinnabar was the earliest used. Cinnabar is the "Dan" (mercury oxide) in China's history books. The most convincing example is the textiles unearthed from the Western Zhou Tomb in Rujiazhuang, Shaanxi Province, which are stained with cinnabar. At that time, dyeing technology was widely used, and there were full-time dyeing officers in official workshops to manage dyeing. In addition, some dye plants are specially cultivated, and blue grass (Polygonum blue) is more common. In the middle of summer, it has been recorded that "in May, cymes bloom". As far as color varieties are concerned, The Book of Songs mentions "green, green with yellow lining", "plain clothes Zhu Embroidery" and "Xuan Huang". According to legend, dyeing tools include dyeing vats and dyeing rods. According to the characteristics of pigment and dye, the processes of register dyeing, mordant dyeing and "grass stone dyeing" were established by using binder and mordant respectively.

To sum up, historical facts such as painted pottery and fabric dyeing show that batik has sufficient conditions. Batik songs (an ancient song) are popular in many places in Miao areas, and the story of batik origin has been passed down from generation to generation. There is a smart and beautiful Miao girl who is not satisfied with the uniform color of her clothes. She always wanted to dye all kinds of flower patterns on her skirt, but it was too much trouble to draw them by hand one by one, but she couldn't think of any good way at the moment and was unhappy all day. One day, the girl looked at clusters of flowers for a long time, but she fell asleep in meditation and didn't think about it. In the dark, a beautifully dressed flower fairy took her to Baihua Garden, where there were countless exotic flowers and plants, birds singing and flowers fragrant, butterflies flying and bees busy. The girl looked and looked in the garden, fascinated. When she woke up, she didn't even know that the skirt was covered with bees, nor did she know that she had just fallen asleep. But when she looked down, the bees in the flowers really just flew away, leaving spots of honey juice and beeswax on the skirt, which was very ugly. She had to take the skirt to the dye vat where indigo was stored, trying to dye it again and cover the wax mark. After dyeing, take it to boiling water for bleaching. When the girl took the skirt out of the boiling water, a miracle appeared. Beautiful white flowers appeared on the dark blue skirt originally stained with beeswax! The girl was moved and immediately found the beeswax. After heating and boiling, she drew a wax figure on the white cloth with branches, and then dyed it in indigo dye solution. Finally, she melted the beeswax with boiling water, and various white flowers appeared on the cloth. Oh! Printed cloth is dyed in the dye vat, and the girl is singing folk songs happily. When people heard the girl's singing, they came to her house, listened to her dream in the garden, watched her dyed flowered skirt and learned her flower painting skills. When everyone got home, they all dyed all kinds of cloth according to the method taught by the girl. Since then, batik technology has spread among Miao and their brothers, such as Buyi and Yao.