Late Tang Lady with Ornate Robe & Pibo: 晚唐贵妇身披华丽长袍与披帛

Art by 陸曼陀 Danling★Lu

Music: A Ballad in the Moonlight

A regal late Tang dynasty noblewoman offering prayer and paying homage at the Dunhuang shrines. Her elaborate robe is based on the murals of Buddhist donors from Cave 98 at Mogao. She wears a bright ochre silk robe effulgent with an elaborate series of green leaf like motifs along with red and white flowers. Winding between her two arms and racing across her back is a bright and translucent Pibo, or long scarf that's typically worn over the robe and wraps around the wearer's sleeves and back. 

The strategically vital area- located in the narrow Hexi Corridor essentially served as the only vital conduit between the western and eastern halves of the empire. Because nearly all traffic between east and west travels through this chokepoint Dunhuang became one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites. During the chaotic last days of the Tang dynasty Dunhuang was part of the Guiyi Circuit, a re-emerged Tang- loyalist state that reattached itself with the rest of Tang empire in the east. Many important patrons who had made donations to the monasteries that dotted the region had their likenesses intricately preserved in these cave murals. 

Shazhou (Sha Prefecture,) or modern Dunhuang. It was an important convergence of all trade and pilgrimage traffic along the long neck of the Hexi Corridor. Because of strategic location Dunhuang was frequently intermittently used as a toll station, caravansary, pilgrimage center, and military garrison. The pagoda-like design of the Mogao Caves not only provided for an imposing facade for the grottoes but was also designed so as to survive the wind blast and earthquakes endemic to the region.

Pibo/ 披帛 (lit. "Cover Silk," or "Wrap Silk": Usually a long scarf that's worn in conjunction with hanfu and wrapped around the wearer's arm and behind the back. Pibo came to prominence during the Sui and later Tang dynasty by way of Persian traders from Central Asian. Some Chinese scholars have postulated that these were inspired by Hellenistic influences, but these assertions have not been confirmed. 

Versatility: Pibos could worn in a variety of styles, from the standard form where it draped from the arms or worn like a shawl or wrapping toga. There are 2 distinctive styles of Pibo, one was wider and shorter, used mostly by married women. The other type could be more than two meters in length, and was used mostly by unmarried women. The material used are usually thin and soft, mostly in brilliant colors, with decorative patterns on it made through embroidery, dyeing or printing.

Ways in which the Pibo was depicted worn at various eras of the Tang dynasty.

It was originally used to protect against wind and cold air, and gradually became an important fashion accessory. Initially, it was worn by performers and palace women, including both noblewomen and palace servants. However, after the prosperity of the High Tang era, it became popular even among the common people. 

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Signs of continuity, a lady donor's mural dated to the early Song dynasty. After the collapse of the Tang dynasty contact between what was formerly the Tang heartland and Dunhuang became sporadic, but there were still many diplomatic missions between the Song and the nearby polities, including to the Tarim Basin. However in the long run the area would be overrun by Tangut- led kingdom of Xi Xia or Western Xia.