PERSIAN TEXTILES 



69. Brocades, that is, textiles interwoven with gold or silver threads, 

 were manufactured in Iran at an early date. Gold rugs are mentioned 

 in the Avesta (zaranaene upasterene, Ya§t xv, 2). Xerxes is said tc 

 have presented to citizens of Abdera a tiara interwoven with gold. 1 

 The historians of Alexander give frequent examples of such cloth in 

 Persia. 2 Pliny, 3 speaking of gold textiles of the Romans, traces this art 

 to the Attalic textures, and stamps it as an invention of the kings of 

 Asia (Attalicis vero iam pridem intexitur, invento regum Asiae). 4 

 The accounts of the ancients are signally confirmed by the Chinese. 



Persian brocades $t $f i& are mentioned in the Annals of the Liang as 

 having been sent as tribute in a.d. 520 to the Emperor Wu from the 

 country Hwa Wt* The king of Persia wore a cloak of brocade, and bro- 

 ^cades were manufactured in the country. 6 Textiles woven with gold 

 threads ^ H£ ^ $S are expressly mentioned; 7 this term almost reads 

 like a translation of Persian zar-baf (literally, "gold weaving"). 8 Per- 

 sian brocades, together with cotton stuffs from An-si (Parthia) $c Hi 

 6 f&t, are further mentioned at the time of the Emperor Si Tsuh "ffc ^ 

 (a.d. 954-958) of the Hou Cou dynasty, among tribute-gifts sent from 

 Kwa cou JR. m in Kan-su. 9 The Kirgiz received precious materials for 

 the dress of their women from An-si (Parthia), Pei-t'ih 3b S (Bisbalik, 

 in Turkistan) , and the Ta-si ;*C Jt (Tadzik, the Arabs). The Arabs made 

 pieces of brocade of such size that the weight of each equalled that of 



twenty camel-loads. Accordingly these large pieces were cut up into 



v^ 



1 Herodotus, vin, 120. 



2 Yates, Textrinum Antiquorum, pp. 366-368. 



* xxxm, 19, § 63. 



4 At the Court of the Persian kings there was a special atelier for the weaving 

 of silken, gold, and silver fabrics, — styled siar baf xdne (E. Kaempfer, Amoenitatum 

 exoticarum fasciculi V, p. 128, Lemgoviae, 1712). 



5 Lian Su, Ch. 54, p. 13 b. Hwa is the name under which the Ephthalites first 

 appear in Chinese history (Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-kiue occidentaux, 

 p. 222). 



6 Kiu T'an Su, Ch. 198, p. 10 b (see also Lian $u, Ch. 54, p. 14 b; and Sui Su 

 Ch. 83, p. 7 b). Huan Tsah refers to brocade in his account of Persia (Ta T'an si 

 yil ki, Ch. 11, p. 17 b, ed. of Sou San ko ts'un Su). 



* Sui ht, hc^ & Hi # H J$ ^ Jft H in Lian Su, I. c. 



8 Cf. Loan-Words in Tibetan, No. 118. 



9 Wu tai U, Ch. 74, p. 3 b; Kiu Wu Tai H, Ch. 138, p. 1 b. 



