ON CRAFT OF SILK “KNITTING” CORDS OF WARRING STATES PERIOD IN JIANGLING

Seven pieces of silk braids excavated from Chu Tomb No.1 at M ashan in Jiangling are thoughtto belong to the knitting fabric.Their structures are double-stitched type,with a lining silk on theback side to fix the knitted threads;besides the traverse linking structure,there are alsomulti-structures by single jersey combined with traverse linking,the excavators declared.The au-thor of this paper believes that those cords can be classified as some intermediary between theknitwear and the needlework.They have the structure similar to certain kinds of knitting,crochetand embroidery,and can be duplicated through two different methods.The differences and similar-ities between these cords and the traditional hand-knitting or embroidery,as well as their originsare discussed.Photographs of the relic and the duplication are presented.