Chinese silks physical characteristics

Problems of classification of 18th century painted-printed Chinese and Western silk textiles are discussed with emphasis on how nondestructive X-ray fluorescent (XRF) analyses of pigment-dye pastes and paints can be combined with visually observable physical characteristics, painterly techniques, and art historical research to separate Chinese silks from Western ones. This unique documentation process is the result of our joint, 2-year study and shows how textile connoisseurship can be reinforced with scientific data. Thirty painted-printed 18th century silks from the textile and costume collections of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Musee Historique des Tissus in Lyon, France National Museum of American History Philadelphia Museum of Art Rhode Island Historical Society and The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum were examined and analyzed by XRF for this study. 

The four physical characteristics of silks of Chinese origin (Table I) are the result of Lee-Whitmans research on plain and patterned silks (I) and our observations of the Chinese silks available to us for study. 

Table I. Summary of Physical Characteristics of Chinese and Western Silks...

The fourth physical characteristic of Chinese silks, a soft "hand , we feel is the result of calendering, which is a characteristic mechanical method for finishing silks in China (Figure 3). This process involves a stone base plate, a wooden roller, and a heavy rocking stone. The silk fabric is placed on a roller and subjected to intense pressure as a workman rocks back and forth on a rocking stone. This process leaves an unmistakable sheen and soft clinging hand that can distinguish Chinese silks from Western ones. 

Our study of the physical and coloration characteristics of 18th century silks has to be classified as an ideal study. We were able to closely examine a wide cross-section of textiles for all the clues that they contain. This type of cooperation involving the question of provenance, which is so difficult to determine for textiles because design migration and readaptation are so prevalent, has produced a systematic method for an approach to the documentation of 18th century Chinese and Western painted and printed silks (Tables I and II). 

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