Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare and valuable
fabric produced from the long silky
filaments or
byssus secreted by a gland in
the foot of several bivalve mollusks (particularly
Pinna nobilis L.) by which they attach
themselves to the sea bed.
Sea silk
was produced in the Mediterranean
region from the large bivalve mollusk, Pinna nobilis, until early in
the 20th century. The shell, which is sometimes almost a
metre long, adheres itself to rocks with a tuft of very strong thin
fibres, pointed end down, in the
intertidal zone. These byssus or filaments
(which can be up to 6 cm long) are then spun and, when treated with
lemon juice, turn a beautiful golden colour
which never fades.
The cloth produced from these filaments can be woven even finer
than silk and is extremely light and warm; however, it attracts
clothes moths, the larvae of which will
eat it. It was said that a pair of woman's gloves could fit into
half a
walnut shell and a pair of stockings
in a
snuffbox. The mollusk is also sought
for its flesh and occasionally has pearls of fair quality.
History
Sea silk is identified with
byssus cloth,
which was a rare white fabric in the ancient Mediterranean, but
scholars disagree over this connection.
Egypt
The Greek text of the (196 BCE)
Rosetta
Stone records that
Ptolemy V reduced
taxes on priests, including one paid in
byssus cloth,
usually translated as "fine linen cloth". In
Ancient Egyptian burial
customs, byssus cloth was used to wrap
mummies.
Greece
The
sophist author
Alciphron first records "sea wool" in his (ca. 2nd
century CE) "Galenus to Cryton" letter.
The early Christian
Tertullian (ca.
160-220 CE) mentions it justifying his wearing a
pallium instead of a
toga.
Nor was it enough to comb and to sow the materials for
a tunic.
It was necessary also to fish for one's dress; for
fleeces are obtained from the sea where shells of extraordinary
size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair.
Sea silk is one interpretation of the
golden fleece sought by
Jason and the Argonauts but scholars
refute this hypothesis.
Roman Empire
Several sources mention
lana pinna "pinna wool". Emperor
Diocletian's (301 CE)
Edict on Maximum Prices lists
it as a valuable textile.
The Byzantine historian
Procopius's (ca.
550 CE)
Persian War, "stated that the five hereditary
satraps (governors) of Armenia who received
their insignia from the Roman Emperor were given
chlamys (or cloaks) made from
lana pinna.
Apparently only the ruling classes were allowed to wear these
chlamys."
Arabia
The
Arabic name for "sea silk" is
ṣūf al-baḥr "sea wool". The 9th-century Persian geographer
Estakhri notes that a sea-wool robe cost
more than 1000 gold pieces and records its mythic source.
At a certain period of the year an animal is seen
running out of the sea and rubbing itself against certain stones of
the littoral, whereupon it deposes a kind of wool of silken hue and
golden color.
This wool is very rare and highly esteemed, and nothing
of it is allowed to waste.
Two 13th-century authors,
Ibn
al-Baitar and
Zakariya
al-Qazwini, repeat this "sea wool" story.
China
Beginning in the
Eastern Han dynasty
(25-220 CE), Chinese histories document importing sea silk from the
Roman Empire.
Chinese language names include "cloth from
the west of the sea" and "mermaid silk".
The (3rd century CE)
Weilüe
"Brief Account of the Wei", which was an unofficial history of the
Cao Wei empire (220-265 CE), records
haixi 海西 "West of the Sea" cloth made from
shuiyang 水羊 "water sheep".
They have fine brocaded cloth that is said to be made
from the down of 'water-sheep'.
It is called Haixi ('Egyptian')
cloth.
This country produces the six domestic animals
[traditionally: horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs and pigs],
which are all said to come from the water.
It is said that they not only use sheep's wool, but
also bark from trees, or the silk from wild silkworms, to make
brocade, mats, pile rugs, woven cloth and curtains, all of them of
good quality, and with brighter colours than those made in the
countries of Haidong (“East of the Sea”).
The (ca. 5th century CE)
Hou
Hanshu "Book of the Eastern Han" expresses doubt about
"water sheep" in the "Products of
Daqin (the
Roman Empire)" section. "They also have a fine cloth which some
people say is made from the down of 'water sheep,' but which is
made, in fact, from the cocoons of wild silkworms". The historian
Fan Ye (398-445 CE), author of the
Hou
Hanshu, notes this section's information comes from the report
that General
Ban Yong 班勇 (son of General
Ban Chao 班超, 32-102 CE) presented to the
Emperor in 125. Both Bans administered the
Western Regions on the
Silk Road.
The (945 CE)
Tang shu "Book of
Tang" mentioned
Haixi cloth from Folin 佛菻 "Syria", which
Emil Bretschneider first
identified as sea silk from Greece. "There is also a stuff woven
from the hair of sea-sheep, and called
hai si pu (stuff
from the western sea)". He notes, "This is, perhaps, the
Byssus, a clothstuff woven up to the present time by the
Mediterranean coast, especially in Southern Italy, from the
thread-like excrescences of several sea-shells, (especially
Pinna squamosa)."
The (early 6th century CE)
Shuyiji 遹異記 "Records of Strange
Things" mentions silk woven by
Jiaoren 蛟人
jiao-dragon people", which
Edward H. Schafer identifies as sea silk.
In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the
kău people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not
given up weaving at the loom.
Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring
forth is pearls.
This aquatic type of raw silk was called
jiaoxiao 蛟綃
"mermaid silk" or
jiaonujuan 蛟女絹" mermaid women's
silk".
Modern
The
image of Jesus
at Manoppello
in Italy, believed by some to be the original
Veil of Veronica, is painted on a
piece of byssus cloth. The Italian names for "sea silk" are
lana pesce "fish wool" or
lana penna" "pinna
wool".
Unfortunately, in recent years,
Pinna nobilis has become
threatened with extinction, partly due to overfishing and, partly,
due to the decline in
seagrass fields, and
pollution.
As it has declined so dramatically, the once
small but vibrant sea silk industry has almost disappeared, and the
art is now preserved only by a few women on the island of Sant'Antioco
in Sardinia.
The earliest usage of the English name
sea silk remains
uncertain, but the
Oxford
English Dictionary defines
sea-silkworm as "a
bivalve mollusc of the genus
Pinna."
Footnotes
References
- Bretschneider, Emil. 1871. On the Knowledge Possessed by the Ancient Chinese of
the Arabs and Arabian Colonies and Other Western
Countries. Trubner.
- Hill, John E. 2003. The Western Regions according to the Hou
Hanshu. A draft annotated translation from the Hou Hanshu – see Section 12 and note 15 plus
Appendix B.
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West. A draft
annotated translation of the 3rd century Weilüe – see Section 12 of the text and Appendix
D.
- Laufer, Berthold. 1915. "The Story of the Pinna and the Syrian Lamb", The
Journal of American Folk-lore 28.108:103-128.
- McKinley, Daniel L. 1988. "Pinna and Her Silken Beard: A Foray
Into Historical Misappropriations". Ars Textrina: A Journal of
Textiles and Costumes, Vol. Twenty-nine, June, 1998, Winnipeg,
Canada. Pp. 9-223.
- Maeder, Felicitas 2002. "The project Sea-silk – Rediscovering
an Ancient Textile Material." Archaeological Textiles
Newsletter, Number 35, Autumn 2002, pp. 8-11.
- Maeder, Felicitas, Hänggi, Ambros and Wunderlin, Dominik, Eds.
2004. Bisso marino : Fili d’oro dal fondo del mare –
Muschelseide : Goldene Fäden vom Meeresgrund. Naturhistoriches
Museum and Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Switzerland. (In Italian and
German).
- Schafer, Edward H. 1967. The Vermillion Bird: T'ang Images
of the South. University of California Press.
- Turner, Ruth D. and Rosewater, Joseph 1958. "The Family
Pinnidae in the Western Atlantic" Johnsonia, Vol. 3 No.
38, June 28, 1958, pp. 285-326.
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