一顧傾城的東方美

Silk is one of the fi nest products of Oriental wisdom and aesthetic vision. It is through gorgeous and mysterious silk that the Western world started to know China. In fact, it was so much sought after that for a time it became one of the most prized luxuries in the West. Even during the time of Julius Caesar (100BC-44BC), the Romans took pride in the use of silk products and saw them as a symbol of wealth and status.

As early as the mid Qing Dynasty, silk fabric and raw silk became the second largest commodities exported to the West, second only to tea. They were sourced and transported from other parts of China to Guangzhou, the nation's only port opened for foreign trade at the time, before being shipped overseas through the Thirteen Factories.

The in fl ux of silk cloth and raw silk into the West spurred a “China fever” among Western societies. Gradually, silk became less and less of a privilege of the upper classes and began to be worn byordinary people. More importantly, the introduction of silk kindled the development of Europe's textile industry. As Adolf Reichwein, a German expert of cultural history, said, “The boom of the French silk industry in the late 17th century, both artistically and technically, was stimulated by the steady in fl ux of silk material from China”.

The silk exports traded by the Thirteen Factories were of three categories: raw silk, silk fabric and silk products (e.g. silk handbags and handkerchiefs). The rich colours of silk fabric made by a variety of silk-weaving techniques, together with all forms of fl oral prints, presented a colourful, visual world that the Westerners would never have imagined. The fi ne texture of silk (soft, smooth and sophisticated) and its sensual feel (light, natural and sumptuous), consciously or unconsciously, in fl uenced the aesthetic taste rooted in Western culture.

絲綢，是東方智慧與審美的結晶。西方世界了解中國,首先是從絲綢開始的。美麗而神秘的中國絲綢使西方社會為之傾倒，絲綢一度成為西方世界最昂貴的奢侈品之一。據(jù)記載，凱撒大帝時代，羅馬人以使用絲綢為榮，以示富有。

清代中期，絲綢及生絲是海外貿易中僅次于茶葉的大宗商品，為廣州十三行所壟斷。中國國內各地的出口絲綢、生絲均要運輸?shù)綇V州，先賣給十三行商，再轉售外國。中國絲綢及原料大量進入西方社會之后，引發(fā)了西方社會“中國熱”潮流。絲綢不再是貴族階層的專利，而是飛入尋常百姓家。更甚之，絲綢的傳入還刺激了歐洲絲織業(yè)的進步。正如德國文化史專家利奇溫所說：“18世紀末，法國絲業(yè)，在美術及技術方面的欣欣向榮，實出于17世紀中國材料不斷輸入的刺激。”

十三行海外貿易的絲綢產品主要有三部分，一是絲綢成品，二是生絲原料，三是相關的絲綢產品如手袋、手帕等。絲綢豐富的色彩以及各種不同的編織方法再配以不同形式的花紋圖案，為西方人展現(xiàn)了一個色彩絢爛的感性世界。其柔軟、舒適、細致的質感和予人華貴、自然、輕盈等感官享受，也對西方文化中的審美情趣產生了潛移默化的影響。

THE UNRIVALLED BEAUTY OF CHINESE SILK

Text by Leng Dong Photos provided by Canton1840 Translation by Leo

Canton1840 is an initiator of mobile museums. Mr. Wen Shi, the late owner of the Canton1840 mobile museum, has been collecting forty thousand items representing Lingnan region culture and European culture in over forty years. (WeChat: canton1840)

文仕文化博物檔案館是“近代海絲文化流動博物館”概念的創(chuàng)導者。前館長文仕先生歷經40多年對珠江嶺南地域文化及歐洲百年文化的搜集，收藏了近40000件博物館級珍貴史料文物。（官微“canton1840”）