Thanks! I think I found the statue you're describing:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PGdp__poAtM/T-LYMC-WgCI/AAAAAAAAL8Q/Nld5-rVqp7c/s1600/scan0004.jpg
You're right -- pretty garish... One does wonder what kind of dyes might have
been used by Chinese peasants. This may be irrelevant, but I read that
European
peasants' clothing was actually quite colorful, and that they frequently
re-dyed
them as the natural colors tended to fade.
That is indeed interesting--I knew about the Greek statues, but not the
warriors. But yes, the statues were colored with pigments--clothing would have
to have been, in general, colored differently. So still raises the question
whether the statues were an actual reflection of reality.
As to peasants' clothing--again, depends on the dyes available, as well as the
labor to use them. The ubiquitous blue indigo is native to India (they used
woad, which contains the same dye, in early Western Europe). Did the Chinese
have indigo or woad? All kinds of plants give various yellows--did they use
them? I don't even know if the peasants wore wool, cotton, flax, or some other
bast fiber (ramie, also called "China grass," does grow in parts of China.)
This is relevant because the bast fibers, and, to a lesser extent cotton, are
in general more difficult to dye than wool.
But China is such a massive territory that I'm sure what was worn varied
greatly with both place and time.
Sorry, again, none of this helps WorkroomButtons, does it?
Ann Wass
-----Original Message-----
From: WorkroomButtons.com <westvillagedrap...@yahoo.com>
To: Historical Costume <h-cost...@indra.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:56 am
Subject: Re: [h-cost] Chinese peasant costumes... help?
Thanks! I think I found the statue you're describing:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PGdp__poAtM/T-LYMC-WgCI/AAAAAAAAL8Q/Nld5-rVqp7c/s1600/scan0004.jpg
You're right -- pretty garish... One does wonder what kind of dyes might have
been used by Chinese peasants. This may be irrelevant, but I read that
European
peasants' clothing was actually quite colorful, and that they frequently
re-dyed
them as the natural colors tended to fade.
Wow! That sounds like quite the project you have there. I haven't a clue
about
peasant costumes, sorry. But one thing you might want to think about is,
colour
was used a lot more that it would appear now. The statues pretty much appear
to
be a consistent mud shade, right? Well, I was watching one documentary about
these statutes (I admit it, the things fascinate me), and apparently they used
to be painted incredibly colourfully but the paint didn't survive time as well
as the terracotta. There are only traces of the paint left, not enough that
would show up on camera, so a German (or at least I think it was German) museum
recreated one of the statues and then using the traces of paint found on it,
painted as it would have been when it was "buried" and put it on display. Most
people are so blown away by the garishness of the colours they have difficulty
believing that is what it would have looked like. So after my long
tangent...don't
write off colours for the peasant kinds, because if those statues were
anything
to go by, apparently there wasn't a colour they didn't like in any combination.
LOL! Just about enough to make your eyes bleed - as bad as the Greeks!
Cheers,
Danielle
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