Traditional Chinese art typically depicted beautiful women in symbolic garments that reflected clothing of the age in which the painter created the work. To best understand the garb and headwear depicted in Chinese art, you must understand how clothing changed as well as how artwork portraying women changed throughout the various dynasties. Even so, some symbolism, such as colors, remained relatively consistent.
Art Through the Ages
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, 420-589, paintings depicted refined, virtuous women with delicate features. By the middle of the Tang Dynasty, 618-907, artists grew interested in painting plumper aristocratic women living carefree lives. During the Five Dynasties, 709-960, beautiful women appeared slender again but had relaxed poses. In the Song Dynasty, 960-1279, the rural woman finally made her appearance in Chinese artwork, but by the Yuan Dynasty, 1271--1368, artists primarily depicted women from historical legends. During the Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, artists drew women with a symmetrical stature, and by the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911, paintings showed women of all classes with slim figures, oval faces and red lips.
Clothing Through the Ages
In the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, 25-200, women wore an outfit consisting of a short jacket and a long skirt with a decorative, low-hanging belt. Gowns of the Tang Dynasty had a low-cut neckline and a high waistband, and outfits included a long skirt and a shirt with short sleeves or loose long sleeves. During the Yuan Dynasty, women primarily wore loose dresses that swept the ground. The wide sleeves had narrow cuffs, and the dresses often had gold embroidery. In the Ming Dynasty, however, female dresses had narrow sleeves and three collars. The light-colored skirt had pleats and large embroidered edges. By the Qing Dynasty, clothing had short, narrow sleeves and a slender, rectangular shape. Garments had large collars and no defined waist.
Color Symbolism
Color played a big role in the symbolism of a garment. During the Han Dynasty, cyan garments signified spring, red and yellow represented summer, white demonstrated an autumn setting and black meant winter. Outside of this period, Chinese culture and art relied on three main colors to demonstrate symbolism. Red, associated with good luck, showed happiness and wealth. Thus, women wearing red in art typically had an aristocratic nature. Black signifies bad fortune, however, as well as sin and cruelty. White represents moderation, purity and harmony, and art depicting women in white depicted virtuous women. Alternatively, white could also represent death.
Headdresses
Headdresses remained relatively similar throughout the ages. For example, if a painting showed a poor, lower-class woman, she might wear a cloth wrapped around her head or a hat to block out the sun. Upper-class women often had hairpins or combs decorated with elaborate flowers. The fancier the floral arrangement, the more wealth or significance the woman portrayed held. Some dynasties also had specific styles. Wealthy women of the Song Dynasty wore elaborate braids and delicate bands, some of which may feature adornments like a golden phoenix. If poor, women of this time wore decorations made of paper.
