• Acta Via Serica
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.37-60
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• 2021

Before the tenth century, the dress of elite women in and around China often reflected "Han" Chinese fashions and preferences. In funerary paintings and relief sculptures of Sogdian and Xianbei couples from the sixth century, for example, women wear "Han" Chinese-style clothing. Even in the Tang dynasty (ca. 618-907), when exchange with Central Asia via overland Silk Road trade impacted the styles and patterning of elite dress and men incorporated clear Central Asian attributes into their dress, elite women in the Tang sphere wore recognizably Tang fashions. Chinese-style dress in these centuries clearly conveyed cultural import and, likely, political power, especially after the founding of the Tang dynasty. However, the straightforward borrowing of Tang women's dress shifted in the Khitan Liao dynasty (ca. 907-1125). The Liao, in contrast to other states that shared a border with China in previous centuries, saw themselves as political equals to the Song dynasty (ca. 960-1278) court in the south. The Liao court was interested in Song customs and culture and incorporated artistic motifs and practices from the Song court. However, the Liao courtly idiom was never fully subsumed into the greater world of the Song - rather, the Liao used facets of Song courtly culture for their own ends. One way this is manifested is through the dual administrative system, a bureaucratic organization that, among other things, regulated and distinguished between who was permitted to wear Khitan and non-Khitan dress. In this paper, I will examine the material evidence from funerary contexts for how the dress of elite Liao women both engaged with the dress of the Song, while also maintaining a certain amount of cultural autonomy. Through their dress, elite Liao women signaled clear messages about their status, identity, and difference to their Song counterparts.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.153-178
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• 2022

This study analyzes the traces of East-West cultural exchange focusing on the palmette pattern expressed on Sassanid Persian and Silla Korean carpets. The results of the study are as follows. The palmette, which originated in ancient Egypt, is an imaginary flower made up of the transformation of a lotus, which combined with the Mesopotamian quadrant (四分法) and expanded to a four-leaf palmette and further to an eight-leaf palmette by applying the octant (八分法). The palmette, which was brought to Assyria, Achaemenid Persia, Parthia, Greece, and Rome, can be seen lavishly decorated with plant motifs characteristic of the region. Sassanid Persia inherited the tradition of the palmette pattern, which applied the quadrant and octant seen in several previous dynasties. On the one hand, it has evolved more splendidly by combining the twenty or twenty-one-leaf palmette and the traditional pearl-rounded pattern decoration of Sassanid Persia. These Sassanid Persian palmette patterns can be found through the palmette patterns depicted on the ceilings of the Dunhuang Grottoes located on the Silk Road. The palmette pattern of the Dunhuang Grottoes was expressed in the form of a fusion of Persian Zoroastrianism, Indian Buddhism, and indigenous religions. In the Tang Dynasty, it shows the typical palmette pattern of four and eight leaves in the medallion composition, which were mainly seen in Persian palmettes. The palmette pattern handed down to Silla can be found on a Silla carpet, estimated to be from around the 8th century, in the collection of Shoso-in (正倉院), Japan. The Silla carpet shows a unique Silla style using motifs such as peonies and young monks, which were popular in Silla while following the overall design of the Persian medallion.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.109-132
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• 2022

Two of the main elements of Persian tangible heritage are rugs and gardens, which have evolved together from the dawn of Iranian history. Emerging from the same system of thought and geographical location, together they represent the Persians' world views, desires, dreams, and design paradigms. In this study, the Persian Garden's patterns, elements, typology, and meanings are introduced and compared with the same aspects of Persian rugs. This paper uses a qualitative comparative methodology to analyze rugs' designs and patterns in relation to Persian Gardens' design principles. Data is collected primarily through library study and observation. The author uses two categories for comparison: meanings and forms. First, the author identifies underlying meanings common to the two art forms and then introduces form, function, and general principal patterns into the analysis. There is a type of rug pattern, known as Chahar-Bagh (literally, "four gardens"), that mirrors a garden design, down to the details, which is the focus of this paper. Additionally, other representations of Persian Gardens in rug design, such as Shekargah ("hunting pattern"), are discussed, as are other rug patterns with fewer elements borrowed from garden design. The paper also considers several motifs that represent flora common in gardening on the Iranian plateau, some of which have symbolic meanings dating to the Zoroastrian era. By comparing these two mediums of art (garden and rug) in the context of Persian history and geography, it becomes clear that the Persian rug design, in its roots, is an attempt to bring a garden into interior space. The study shows that the forms, patterns, and meanings reflected in Persian rugs render the study of their designs incomplete without considering the history of gardens.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.117-140
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• 2021

At the beginning of the Roman imperial period, moralizing authors criticized a material from the East that quickly gained popularity among the elites: silk. During Late Antiquity, the trade, production, and use of purple-dyed silks increasingly became the privilege of the emperors. While literature, court poetry, and laws give insights into the discourses surrounding silk, they are rather unspecific concerning silk qualities. This contribution analyzes the scattered descriptions of silks in Greek and Latin texts in a diachronic perspective, with a focus on the 1^st cent. BCE to the 4th cent. CE, paying particular attention to the terminology, products, origins, and qualities of silk. The aim is to build a framework for comparisons with archaeological silk finds and other textile terminologies along the Silk Roads. Here, the silk finds from the oasis city of Palmyra/Tadmor in modern-day Syria, dating from the 1st cent. BCE to the 2nd cent. CE, will be used as a case study for the early imperial period. Taking these silk finds as a comparison, it will be shown that Greek and Latin terminology does not match the variety of silks known in the Mediterranean. Rather, linguistic differentiations focus on the forms in which silk reached the Mediterranean, as skeins, yarns, and fabrics, as well as on the different kinds of silks that were produced in the West, namely pure silk and half-silken fabrics, checkered "scutlata" damasks, purple-dyed, and gold-embellished silks. In contrast, silks from the East were subsumed under the term for "silks from the silk people" or simply "silks". Moreover, ancient authors do not use the terms in the same way. These findings show the limitations of Western silk terminology and the importance of combining archaeological and written sources.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2023

Traditional Kurdish weavings are among the world's most ancient living textile traditions. One of the largest regional ethnic and linguistic groups, Kurds have inhabited a significant part of Western Asia for millennia. Historically, Kurdish territories were crisscrossed by old and important trade routes, including the Silk Roads. This led to the formation of some of the most significant Kurdish artistic and cultural traditions, including textiles, which influenced and were influenced by those of other non-Kurdish ethnic groups from Caucasia to Central Asia and beyond. One example of Kurdish carpet traditions born in the eighteenth century at the cross-sections of Safavid (1501-1736) urban carpets workshops and centuries-old indigenous Kurdish tribal/rural weaves is senneh gelim or sojaee. A finely flatwoven carpet that was exchanged regionally and internationally as a diplomatic gift and a highly prized commodity. Although in decline, senneh gelims continue to be made by Kurdish women weavers in their original birthplace Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Iranian Kurdistan to date. This study adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to present an image of senneh gelim and women gelim weavers, tracing the developmental trajectories of the craft from the eighteenth century to the present time by drawing on extant art-historical and social scientific studies along with primary ethnographic data collected in Iranian Kurdistan (2018-2019). It investigates the craft tradition's historical origin, various aspects such as techniques, materials, aesthetics, functions, and meanings, and how these transformed over time. Additionally, the paper looks at the social contexts of production, focusing on women carpet weavers and how their socioeconomic and cultural situation has formed senneh carpet production in the past and present and the implications for long-term preservation.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.31-54
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• 2023

The article deals with issues related to the tradition of carpet production on the territory of Kazakhstan where, for the most part, tribes engaged in nomadic livestock raising lived. Analyzing the technological component of this traditional craft, the author focuses on the main factor that influenced carpet weaving along with arts and crafts-the nomadic method of production of the Kazakhs. The study of the ideological component that accompanies the process of making various types of carpets allows us to conclude that it has a sacred meaning and subordination to myth, rite, and ritual. At the mythmaking level, the process of making carpets, like any other activity among nomads, personified the process of creating the world, the marriage of Kok-Tengri (Heaven) and Zher-Su (Earth), and the creation of the Cosmos from Chaos. The process of carpet weaving, as well as the process of making felt, symbolized the act of creation, the marriage of Heaven and Earth, and male and female principles. The study of various types of ornaments that Kazakhs and their ancestors used to decorate carpets allows us to conclude that the ornament applied to carpet products was the bearer of the most valuable information about the mythological worldview of the people. Carpets in their structure reproduced the structure of the Universe, which has a binary, ternary, and quaternary system. The ornament has turned into a kind of coded text, reflecting ideas about the cosmogonic structure of the Universe and an awareness of the harmony of the world. The location of Kazakhstan on the northern routes of the Sogdian Road (Great Silk Road) allowed the spread of various ideas, due to which carpet weaving was influenced by other peoples in technical and stylistic design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2008

The author examined the origins, the course and the period of introduction of 94 types of vegetables and fruits mainly used in Korea. Then, based on it, the author looks into the relationship between food culture in Korea and those in the Silk Road. Among the vegetables and fruits, 57 types are not originated from Korea 17 types of stem and leaf vegetables, 9 types of root and fruit vegetables. 7 types of fruits, 6 types of seed, 6 types of pomes, 2 types of berries and grapes, and 1 type of nut. Their origins are spread in Europe, Southwest and South Asia but interestingly, they are located near or along the Silk Road. Therefore, it can be presumed that the vegetables and fruits were introduced into Korea from its neighboring countries by way of the Silk Road even before the Three Koreas Period and they were eaten widely in the Joseon Dynasty. Thus, the Silk Road helped some of the vegetables and fruits used in Korea to be introduced into Korea and eventually, contributed to diversifying Korean food culture. The cultural exchange is not one-way but two-way communication and the cultural exchange through the Silk Road is no exception. It is certain that by way of the Silk Road, foods and recipes were introduced into Korea from other countries but at the same time, Korean foods and recipes were propagated to other countries. In the future, more researches and studies should be conducted to find out how the foods and recipes are exchanged among the countries by the way of the Silk Road.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.79-94
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to examine the descriptions of the transmission of plague along the Silk Road in Orhan Pamuk's 2022 novel Nights of Plague. Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, the first prize for Turkish literature. Pamuk's vast knowledge of epidemiological history, which has long fascinated him, comes to life in this novel as he describes the characters' battles against the plague in the East and West and how the plague was brought to the islands and spread along the Maritime Silk Road. One of the most important trade routes in human history, the Silk Road was not only a link between East and West trade and cultures but also a route for the transmission of bubonic plague during the medieval period onwards. It was this epidemic that contributed to the decline of the Silk Road. In the novel, a plague originating in China strikes the Ottoman coastal cities of Smyrna and Mingheria on its way to Europe via India. The epidemic is contained in Smyrna but the death toll spirals out of control when the plague reaches the island of Mingheria by sea. The spatial setting of the novel is an island, which means that it communicates with the outside world by sea. The only way the plague could have spread to an isolated island was by ship. Rats from different ports and ships would have traveled to other parts of the world or even countries to spread the plague. In Nights of Plague, the fact that the plague reached Mingheria via the maritime Silk Road is also proven by the route of the ships and various narratives. The novel confirms what many scholars have argued, that the Silk Road brought various goods from the East to the Roman Empire, along with deadly diseases, and that the sea routes were an important way for the plague to travel and spread.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.204-221
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• 2020

East Asian countries share a culture of perfuming clothes. The prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road and the incense trade are direct factors that have led to the development of incense culture. Perfuming clothes is a method of applying fragrance by burning incense. The Chinese could make an incense mixture with various types of incense, and records demonstrating use of perfuming clothes tools (熏籠) show that they might have perfumed clothes with incense mixtures. During the Tang dynasty, the incense trade thrived. Examples of ancient literature such as 『千金要方』, 『香譜』, 『香乘』 describe how to make incense for perfuming clothes and how to perfume clothes. 『桂海虞衡志』 and 『諸蕃志』 shows trade partners and goods. Incense was introduced to Korea alongside Buddhist culture. 『買新羅物解』 shows Silla traded incense with Japan. One of the trade goods recorded in 『買新羅物解』 is perfuming cloth incense (熏衣香), which establishes that Silla performed perfuming clothes at that time. During the Goryeo dynasty, Goryeo exported musk as well as ginseng. The royal family burned incense from the Song royal family. Noblewomen preferred sachets. The use of this dress continued into the Joseon dynasty. 『買新羅物解』 showed that Japan imported incense from Silla. 『The tale of Genji』 illustrates Heian nobles' incense culture, perfuming clothes culture, and trade of incense. Perfuming clothes tools became essential articles for marriage purposes and it developed in a practical shape. The Champa had a perfuming clothes culture. It is described on 『諸蕃志』. As Agilawood is found in Tongking, and Tongking was neighbor to the Champa and China, they might have had a perfuming clothes culture as well. Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam shared a perfuming clothes culture. We can identify universality and commonality in the purpose of perfuming clothes, time of development, the method of making the incense mixture for perfuming clothes, the method of perfuming clothes, the tools, the gender of perfumer, and the type of herbs and spices.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.40
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• pp.243-270
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• 2007

Linked pearls pattern expressed on textiles have no limited scale or shape when manufacturing, so they are free in expression. And from the design, material, and color we can analogize the social culture of that age. Oriental linked pearls pattern was started from the Sasanian Persia and introduced through the Silk Road, so it is closely connected with the East and the West culture. This study will consider from the 5th century to the 10th century; the mural costume of the West Central Asia, the ancient textiles excavated from the Sinjiang and Qinghai area of China, and the linked pearls pattern which are collected at Shosoin, Japan. And from this study, will concentrate on clarifying the linked pearls pattern's condition of the cultural exchange between the East and the West and it's structural variation process. The design of linked pearls pattern delivered to the East through the Silk Road is differed by area. For example, in the Western Pamir Plateau, where the ancient Sogdians mainly lived, the excavated linked pearls pattern's subject were deer or cassowary variated from the West Asian motif. But the ones excavated from Kucha Xingang had Chinese motifs added so they showed Chinese characters or Buddhist Bodhisattva image instead of Helios. Like this, the appearance of new patterns, which were accompanied by structural variations, gradually deviated from the standardized pattern of the Sasanian Persia. And this structural variation process has relations with the construction and arrangement method of various patterns of the after ages. The foliated floral Spray, which is placed at the lozenge space of linked pearls' space, had developed into ogival - shaped pattern (Neunghwamun). And the prevalence of geometrical structure pattern after the 10th century and the unfolding method of Tapjamun which is arranging unit pattern in order, are similar to the linked pearl pattern. In brief, linked pearls pattern accompanied by technical improvement let us understand the polished artistic code from its expression, and has importance in showing universal pattern beyond region and culture.