《捣练图》人物身份辨析

The Social Status of the Figures on the Painting of Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk

盛唐画家张萱《捣练图》中所描绘的人物身份并非贵族妇女,而是长安宫廷的缝纫女工。唐代长安官营国有手工行业的缝纫女工主要是普通宫女、官婢等,分属于皇帝宫廷、中央少府监等不同的职官系统,她们的社会身份属于官府贱民,其劳动性质属于国家诸种劳役之一,其供给对象是皇帝、后妃、王公百官、军队以及官府的贱民。

I argued that the figures depicted in the painting of Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk created by Zhang Xuan, an artist in the glorious age of the Tang Dynasty, were court sewing ladies rather than noblewomen. In the capital Chang’an in the Tang Dynasty, some royal or governmental sewing ladies were maids in the imperial palace or female servants. They were controlled by the royal palace or Shaofu, a governmental agency for the production of crafts. Their social status was relative lower than that of court ladies and they served as labourers to the emperor, empresses, royal and governmental officials, as well as military troops and other lower status people in the government.