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Shujinpu 蜀錦譜

Mar 27, 2024 © Ulrich Theobald

Shujinpu 蜀錦譜 "Brocades of Sichuan" is a book on state-regulated silk production written during the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) by Fei Zhu 費著, who lived in the early and mid-14th century.

The brief text is divided into two parts, namely an overview, and a chapter on products. The book describes how the Song dynasty 宋 (960-1279) set up the official silk weaving workshops in Sichuan, and explains their organization and products, the famous Shu brocade, with all different designations, colours, and patterns. The twelve typical patterns of the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) like badayun jin 八答暈錦, panqiu jin 盤毬錦 or dake shizi jin 大窠獅子錦 were enhancements of Tang-period 唐 (618-907) brocades. There were basically two types of brocade, namely crude, and fine ones. The most important places of production were the prefectures of Lizhou 黎州 (today’s Hanyuan 漢源), Wenzhou 文州 (Wenxian 文縣, today in Gansu province), and Xuzhou 敘州 (Yibin 宜賓), and the military prefecture of Nanping 南平軍 (Zuanjiang 綦江). The most beautiful products were brocades with images like flowers and peacocks (da baihua kongque jin 大百花孔雀錦), peonies among the green (qinglü ruyi mudan jin 青綠如意牡丹錦) or phoenixes within red flowers (zhenhong chuanhua feng jin 真紅穿花鳳錦). The impressions given in the Shujinpu show that silk production in Sichuan continued through the late imperial time.

The text is usually presented as an appendix to the Suihua jili pu 歲華紀麗譜, which is found in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Mohai jinhu 墨海金壺.

Sources:
Chen Yanzhu 陳彦姝 (2019). "Shujinpu yanjiu 《蜀錦譜》研究", Zhuangshi 裝飾, 2019 (12): 104-108.
Xie Yuanlu 謝元魯 (2005). "Suihua jili pu, Jianzhipu, Shujinpu zuozhe kao 《歲華紀麗譜》《箋紙譜》《蜀錦譜》作者考", Zhonghua wenhua luntan 中華文化論壇, 2005 (2): 21-26.
Yang Boda 楊伯達 (xxx). "Shujinpu 蜀錦譜", in Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, part Qinggong 輕工 (Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), 424.
蜀漢 (221-263)