52 British Patchwork & Quilting AUGUST 2019
Silk is perhaps the most luxurious fabric known to man. It has been around for thousands of
years in China, although the making of the cloth was a hidden secret. Not that we have any
fabric remaining from so far back but what we do have are archaeological remains that relate
to silk and its production such as looms, shuttles and needles. A rare fi nd in China dated
between 6000 and 7000 BCE, is an ivory basin, decorated with what appears to be silkworms.¹
Silk was not offi cially exported outside China until 140 – 136 BCE, although we know it was
traded as early as the 4th century BCE, along which, in the 19th century, became known as
the Silk Road. Stories and myths surround the fi nding and weaving of silk cloth, supposedly
invented by Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor, in about 3000 BCE.
According to Chinese legend, a cocoon from a mulberry tree dropped into her cup of hot tea
and the delicate fi lament began to separate itself from the cocoon shell. She drew out the
strand, covering the grass all around her. She had discovered silk.Silk, Theatre and Drama
BY SHEILAH DAUGHTREEBritish Library Gate