Some Memory Devices of Early Chinese Textile Technologies and Artisans’ Transmission of Knowledge

Patterned silks served as signifiers for rituals and status in early China. They were patterned using different techniques, for example, some sha-silks from Mawangdui dated to 168 CE were repeatedly stamped with motifs while other silks were woven with monochrome or polychrome motifs. The technical knowledge for producing such silks was embodied as internal memory in the artisans who predominantly worked in state- run workshops until the mid-first century BCE. Artisans also invented external memory devices to facilitate their work. Some devices – bronze stamps and pattern-shafts on looms – have been unearthed from Guangzhou and Laoguanshan dated to 122 and 118 BCE respectively. Most techniques did not circulate widely, and over time, some disappeared and were then replaced by others. Lacking artisans’ own accounts, this article examines these external memory devices in the workshop context to suggest the hypothesis that the transmission of the embodied knowledge depended on the mobility and freedom of the artisans.