The Tangut Empire, also known as the Western Xia, is one of the great lost civilisations of Central Asia, and flourished for about two centuries.Established in 1038, it was crushed by the armies of Gengis Khan in 1227. Although the empire was shortlived, its legacy is significant. In that time, the Tanguts invented a new script, translated thousands of texts into their language, and pioneered the use of print technology, including moveable type.The Tanguts are mentioned in later Chinese sources, but little was known about their complex culture, language and writing system until the beginning of the twentieth century. The discovery of the ‘dead city’ of Kharakhoto by Colonel Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov in 1908 heralded the start of Tangut Studies.
Kharakhoto, often called Heishuicheng (黑水城) in Chinese, was one of the main centres of the Tangut Empire. It is located in the Gobi desert, right inside the Chinese border with Mongolia. There, Kozlov (1863-1935) and his team unearthed several statuary works and other artefacts, as well many printed and manuscript books.
Their finds are now housed at the State Hermitage Museum and at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts in St Petersburg.In 1914, Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a British-Hungarian explorer who was then leading his third expedition to Central Asia (1913-16) arrived to Kharakhoto. He further excavated the ancient city and its surroundings, recovering
several more items, which were split between the Government of India and the British Museum.
A large part of the textual material is now held at the British Library, mainly comprising works on paper.These fragmentary documents have been catalogued in the Or.12380 sequence.If many have been recently conserved, photographed and made accessible online on the International Dunhuang Project website (www.idp.bl.uk), quite
a lot of work remains to be done before we can digitise the rest of the collection. What might not be widely known is that among the collection items uncovered in Kharakhoto, there are several textile items. Earlier this year, as I was surveying Stein collection’s Tangut material that is yet to be made available, I noticed a fairly largebundle in a clearplastic sleeve that had been given the pressmark Or.12380/3665.
When I looked inside the paper wrapper, I realised that it contained a very crumpled piece of fabric, possibly silk, with printed patterns. In that state, it was difficult to assess what it could look like and what its actual dimensions may be. However, the number K.K.II.054probably written on the item in pencil by Stein (or one his assistants) was visible. Stein was extremely methodical and attributed a ‘code’ or number to most of his finds, referring in most cases to their precise excavation point. K.K. stands for the name of the archaeological site, Kharakhoto, while the Roman numeral II corresponds to the structure where it was unearthed, a ruined shrine located outside the town walls, about 300 hundred meters to thewest of the western Gate.
It is in that exact same place that Colonel Kozlov had secured the bulk of the finds that he took back to Russia. Indeed, the stupa-like structure, which is described by both explorers as a funerary building owing to the presence of skeletal remains near its base, containeda treasure of manuscripts, books, paintings, statues and other artefacts. Or.12380/3665was recovered by Stein along with miscellaneous objects: literary material, many pieces of silk, fragments of silk paintings, clay stuccos and fresco fragments, and a few wooden items. According to Innermost Asia , the textileitself was formed of several pieces of silk joined together: “[…] One piece plain. Two with spot pattern in black outline – two concentric circles from which six short rays with small rhomboids between, making a kid of wheel design 7/16” in diameter. Another piece dotted with stars and birds, and having a few Chinese characters either written or
stamped.
Because of the way the fabric had been crumpled up to fit inside a paper wrapper after its excavation, too much stress was put on its fibres, creating strong creases. Following discussions with colleagues at the Conservation Centre, we decided toadopt a minimalist approach and unfold the item gently, without trying to completely flatten it or gettingrid of historical creases.Clara Low, who was then completing a six-week placement at the British Library as part of her MPhil course in Textile Conservation at the University of Glasgow, carried out treatment under the joint supervision of Liz Rose, textile conservator, and of Vania Assis, paper conservator who focused on paper fragments from the Tangut collection. Clara’s particular interest resides in archaeological textiles, a specialism which made her the ideal candidate for the job. She used controlled humidification to enable this process, gradually opening the silk up.
What was revealed is faithful to Stein’s description. The item is made of 4 pieces of silk sewn together. The one at the top is plain and very fragmented, whereas the other three are decorated. The long strip at the bottomhas got circular patternsprinted in black ink, probably using wooden stamps. The middle section consists of two pieces: one with the same motifs; the other one withan inscription in Chinese written over a design of birds flying among stars. The characters Jiading qi nian 嘉定七年, which translate as “7th Year of the Jiading Era” give us the date of 1214. The Jiading era corresponds to the reign of the Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song (19 November 1168 – 17 September 1224). Our silk might therefore be a product of the Song dynasty, demonstratingcontacts between the Tanguts and their Chinese neighbours, but some mystery remains as to what function it could have served. I will look at some possibilities.