Chinese auspicious ornaments in textile and clothing
[1] In ancient China, auspicious ornaments were often either embroidered or woven into textile and clothing.
Clothing and colour in China also played an important role in representing its wearer's identity, rank, and culture.
[11]: 71 They originated in the Western Zhou dynasty and was a group of highly auspicious ancient Chinese symbols and designs, signifying authority and power.
[12][14] The system of clothing patterns was however established in the Han dynasty, where the types and the number of ornaments was regulated based on a person's ranks.
[4] Bagua are believed to be derived from the markings on the back of a tortoise shell after it had been placed on sacrificial fire.
[12] The rock found in the bottom-centre of the Qing dragon robes, represents the sacred mountain (山, shān), one of the Twelve ornaments.
[12] On the Qing dynasty rank badge (buzi), the sun disk is typically depicted as a red disc, which represents the emperor.
[17][20] In the Qing dynasty, animals, birds and creatures on a rank badges need to face the sun disc as symbol of loyalty to the Emperor.
[17] PomegranateA pomegranate (Chinese: 石榴; pinyin: shíliǔ) is an auspicious pattern which represents the "abundance in all things" (especially, sons).
[1] The auspicious characteristics of the lingzhi mushroom is a unique aspect in Chinese culture and were even worshipped in ancient times.
[24]: 11 According ancient Taoist belief, the consumption of lingzhi allows one to never grow old and die.
[25] Textile patterns with animals and clouds have been popular, especially during the Han to the Jin dynasty around the 1st to the 3rd century.
[4]On textiles, birds were often inspired by paintings, literature, and by observation the natural surroundings; textiles which show birds paired with flowers originated from huaniaohua paintings, which were already popular during the Tang dynasty before gaining more social significance near the end of the Northern Song dynasty.
[30] Birds have an important place in Chinese culture as they are perceived as divine envoys and the heralds of auspicious events.
[30] The depiction of a crane with a phoenix, a mandarin duck, a heron, and a wagtail represents the 5 interpersonal relations according to Confucian beliefs.
Pairs of mandarin ducks were symbols of conjugal bliss and even appear on the clothing of brides.
[30][32] It is also the symbol of the sun, virtue, love, and the power of the civil officials in the Imperial court.
When lu is paired with lotuses, it is represents the Confucian ideal of what an uncorrupted official is; it can also have the meaning as "recurring success on the path to career" where Lu is the path and the official gratification and the lotus represents the "recurring" characteristic.
[30] A wild goose (dayan 大雁 or e 鹅) symbolizes loyalty, fidelity, and marital bliss.
[34]: 8 These nine dragons are often depicting as either ascending to or descending from the sky; they are also the symbolism of the dynamic powers of the Universe.
[1] Chinese dragons continued to be used in the Qing dynasty in the imperial and court clothing.
[1][12] The types of dragons and their numbers of claws were regulated and prescribed by the imperial court.
Other people wore other forms of dragon-like creatures, which were no longer considered as being Chinese dragons according to the contemporary standard.
According to Shen Defu, a bureaucrat in the Ming dynasty, "the mang robe [蟒服, lit.
[38] Clothing with 4-clawed Chinese dragon-like creatures were mangfu, feiyufu and douniufu; feiyu and douniu have additional specific characteristics which differ them from both the mang and the long.
[39] When the Ming dynasty court would bestow robes upon other chieftains, they would bestow four-clawed dragons;[37][note 8] lesser princes, nobles and senior court officials of the Ming dynasty were also prescribed mang.
A common motif used in clothing and other arts products is the dragon playing with flaming pearls (or balls[34]: 8 ), which appeared during the second half of the first 1st millennium AD.
[16]: 131 In the Ming dynasty, double phoenix were used in the rank badges were used by female member of the imperial household.
After the 1662, the qilin was used to decorate the mandarin square (buzi) of the military officials of the 1st rank.
[5] The character xi (囍) or double happiness is a pattern which expresses blessing marriage and harmony.
