PERSIAN FABRICS

selection, or to their ceremonial and sumptuary laws. Plate 21, acolour print by Shunsen, is a representative example of costume,which from time immemorial has been prescribed by rules andmodes for the various ranks of society. It was of such form as torender grace impossible, but an unlimited range of pattern waspermissible and was usual in costume.

Plate 22 gives two excellent examples of impressionistic design,applied to the subject of birds and bamboo stems; plates 23 and24 show more regular and conventional floral treatment.

On plate 25 are representative examples of the woven patterns,showing some of the fertility and readiness of invention of theJapanese weaver. Nos. 5 and 6 are interesting types of the hexagonalor honeycomb diapers that are so frequently used in costume pattern-ing, while No. 1 gives one of their most significant heraldic patterns.

Plates 103 and 104 (pp. 109, 110) are characteristic examples ofstencil designs for the patterning of woven fabrics, a process that theJapanese craftsmen have made almost exclusively their own, in placeof the block printing so largely used in India and Western coun-tries. In Japan, up to a comparatively recent period, all patternedfabrics were the result either of the use of the shuttle or the stencil.

These stencil plates, usually cut in a tough, yet flexible papermade from the bark of the mulberry tree, are marvels of delicacy,strength, and craftsmanship. Frequently the plate is of two layers,having hairs stretched between them to give additional strength andto avoid the use of ties as far as possible.

PERSIAN

The art of weaving and embroidery had reached a high degreeof excellence in design and workmanship in the ancient kingdomsof Babylon and Persia, and this splendid tradition of patternedfabrics continued for many centuries, encouraged and stimulated bythe conquering Mohammedans. In 1499 Persia was reconstitutedas a nation under a dynasty of native rulers, the Safidian, the firstsince the days of the Sassanian kings. From the 7th century shehad been merged in larger units, Arab, Turk, and Mongol, ordivided into petty kingdoms. Not until this time can we definitelyspeak of an art of Persia, clearly differentiated from the art of hernearest rivals of the West, the Ottoman Turks, and from that ofmore Eastern peoples. The art of the Safidian period finds itsculmination under Shah Abbas (A.D. 1586—1625)—a period of re-markable achievement in the production of splendid carpets, silken

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