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, Yast xv, 2). Xerxes is said to 

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

 The historians of Alexander give frequent examples of such ck>th 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 $, $? 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 ?il. 5 The king of Persia wore a cloak of brocade, and bro- 

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

 threads dfe He Sfc $ 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) 3c 

 6 H6, are further mentioned at the time of the Emperor Si Tsun ifr ^ 

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

 Kwa Cou JK. W in Kan-su. 9 The Kirgiz received precious materials for 

 the dress of their women from An-si (Parthia), Pei-t'iii At (BiSbalik, 

 in Turkistan) , and the Ta-gi Jt ^ (Tadjik, the Arabs) . The Arabs made 

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

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



1 Herodotus, vm, 120. 



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

 8 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 star bdf xane (E. KAEMPFER, Amoenitaturn 

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



8 Lian $u, 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 Tan Su, Ch. 198, p. 10 b (see also Lian Su, Ch. 54, p. 14 b; and Sui $u 

 Ch. 83, p. 7 b). Huan Tsan refers to brocade in his account of Persia (Ta Tan si 

 yu ki, Ch. II, p. 17 b, ed. of Sou San ko ts'un su). 



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



9 Wu tai Si, Ch. 74, p. 3 b; Kiu Wu Tai Si, Ch. 138, p. I b. 



488 



