Chinese silk fine art in early Qing dynasty observations from historical literature

Abstract

This article analyses in some detail the silk fabrics that appear in a historical literary work of the early Qing dynasty, Dream of the Red Chamber, a famous autobiographical work in which the author describes many of the details of the fabrics based on his own experiences and his family's inextricable links with the imperial silk factories of Jiangnan during the Kangxi period. The text also cross-referenced historical archives to show the exquisite silk fashion at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the pursuit and enjoyment of luxurious silk and imported fabrics by the aristocracy class in the early Qing dynasty, and how this mode affected the lives of ordinary people.