Abstract
Three pieces of cotton fabrics used for this study were exhumed in the Mt.Moo Deung near Kwang Ju in 1965. The fabrics were remains of Jang Heung Lim Si-the nephew's wife of General Kim Deok Ryeong. It was reported that Jang Heung Lim Si died in 1615. The cotton fabrics were classified into three, A, B and C, according to their color. The fabric A was inherent color of cotton, the fabric B was that of light brown and the fabric C was that of dark brown. The physical and chemical characteristics of the cotton fabrics were examined. In the meantime the construction of cotton fabrics and traditional dyeing of Yi dynasty were studied through various records. The results were as follows: 1. According to electromicroscopic examination, the lumen in the cotton fiber had not been developed enough, therefore the quality of cotton at that time was supposed to be not so excellent. 2. The results of chemical analysis indicated that: (1) While the copper number of the cotton fabric A was similar to that of bleached cotton, that of the fabric C was extremely high. (2) The amount of methylene blue absorption was much more than that of normal cotton. (3) The content of cellulose was less than that of normal cotton. (4) The degree of polymerization was less than that of normal cotton. From the results mentioned above, it was concluded that the cotton fabrics were oxidized slowly in the closed lime coffin for a long period of time. From this process of oxidization and deterioration, the degree of polymerization was decreased through depolymerization, and carboxyl groups were produced by the oxidization at reducing end groups. 3. It was confirmed that the cotton fabric C was dyed by the juice of immature persimmon. Thus, it was inferred that the large amount of copper number of cotton fabric C was derived from phenolic OH groups of tannins having high reducing properties in persimmon.