A Study on the Blended Tabby of the Chosen Dynasty

조선시대 교직물 연구

1. The blended tabby whose warp and weft each employs a different kind of thread had been weaved since the era of the Three Kingdoms in this nation and since the period of Han in China. Especially in the 15th century. very finely weaved fabrics as the specialty of Chosun were exported to China. In the 16th century. blended tabby weaved with silk and cotton were often used for clothes as cotton was produced around the nation. And in the 17th century. blended tabby employing high quality Chinese raw silk other than existing ones were weaved. 2. It has been found in literature review that Honpo, one of Chosun's blended tabby. was manufactured mainly in Hamkyung, Cholla and Kyungsang provinces and mostly distributed through markets of Chungchong and Cholla provinces. 3. Out of the total 19 fabric pieces. 13 employed silk thread as the warp and cotton thread as the weft. Compared with the weft. in general. the warp is given more tension when weaved and more friction by spindles, being more likely to be twisted than the weft. In addition to starching, a stronger thread is requested as the warp. It is natural that in the Chosun period, silk thread more stronger than cotton thread was used as the warp to make more durable fabrics. For the weft requiring lots of threads when weaved. cotton thread was mainly used in the 17th century because the thread could be easily obtained at that time. 4. So far the study has made an empirical review of Chosun's blended tabby. especially those of the 15th∼17th century, in terms of their production and distribution. Findings from the study have some limit because they have been made focusing on the 15th∼17th century not the whole period of Chosun. Therefore it is needed to complement those findings through further studies.