A guide to the identification of women’s makeup in Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China’s feudal civilization.

The north and south are unified, with a vast territory, political stability, developed economy and prosperous culture and education. Envoys from all countries communicate with each other and exchange needed goods. All these have laid the foundation for the development of decoration culture.

"Clouds want clothes, flowers want capacity", and women’s makeup in the Tang Dynasty is rich and colorful, reaching a peak in the history of China’s ancient makeup.

In the early Tang Dynasty, the politics was clear and the society was stable. During this period, women’s makeup style showed a little richness, but on the whole it reflected the natural state.

Female figurines in the early Tang Dynasty, China National Museum.

The red makeup is not rich, the eyebrow style is broad, the hair style is mostly tall and straight, and there are few pearls. The makeup style of this period reveals women’s self-confidence.

In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the national strength reached its peak. At this time, women’s aesthetics advocated fullness and beauty, reflecting a strong aristocratic atmosphere.

Tamping Practice Map (partial), Boston Art Museum, USA.

After the Anshi Rebellion, the politics of the Tang Dynasty became increasingly decadent, the struggle continued, and the national strength declined. However, all classes are extravagant, so in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, women’s makeup did not return to the simple style, but was more elegant than in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

The silk painting of a lady who played chess in the late Tang Dynasty was unearthed from No.187 tomb in Astana, Turpan in 1972.

Next, let’s walk into the world of women in the Tang Dynasty and get a glimpse of the secret of makeup.

01 mianzhuang

Thick red makeup is the mainstream of face makeup, and women, regardless of their rank, like to apply it. The beauties in the Tang Dynasty even put rouge on their whole cheeks.

Painted pottery female figurines with lynx hunting on horseback, collected in Xi ‘an Museum in the 12th year of Tang Kaiyuan (724), the picture is taken by the author.

There is a sentence in Li Bai’s "Clouds on the Waving Yarn on the Stone", which says "Jade-faced Ye Xi female, green moths and red powder makeup". In Gong Ci, Wang Jian also said, "Dancing makes you sweat, and people upstairs help you down the jade ladder. The teacher went to the hospital to wash his face and stir red mud in the golden basin. A beauty’s face is re-applied with rouge, and when the fragrance is dripping with sweat, the handkerchief to wipe the sweat and the water to wash her face will be dyed red.

Silk paintings of ladies in Tang Dynasty were unearthed from No.187 tomb in Astana, Turpan in 1972.

Of course, the effect of "red makeup" will also vary depending on the application method.

Wine dizzy makeup is the most colorful of red makeup. This kind of makeup is first coated with white powder, and then coated with thick rouge on both cheeks;

Peach blossom makeup is light and bright as peach blossom;

Feixia makeup is more elegant than peach blossom makeup, and it has a feeling of white inside and red inside.

In the Tang Dynasty, women pursued originality. In addition to the above, facial makeup also included Hu makeup, crow makeup, tears makeup and blood dizzy makeup, so I won’t repeat them here.

The mural of Zhaoyi Cemetery in Anyang, Henan Province (AD 829), some scholars think that the red road on the female face in the mural is "blood halo makeup", which looks a bit scary.

02 meizhuang

The chart of the evolution of women’s thrush style in Tang Dynasty, which was compiled by Shaanxi History Museum.

The Tang Dynasty is the most abundant period of eyebrow styles in the history of China. Long eyebrows, short eyebrows, moth eyebrows and broad eyebrows are all popular. Xuanzong had Ten Eyebrows Map, which recorded ten eyebrow styles, such as Yuanyang eyebrow, Xiaoshan eyebrow, Wuyue eyebrow and Sanfeng eyebrow, which were popular at that time, and "Ten Eyebrows" only included a part of the eyebrow styles.

Here are some common eyebrow makeup:

Moon eyebrow: slightly wider than willow eyebrow and slightly narrower than long eyebrow, shaped like a crescent moon. In Yan Liben’s Bu Ji Tu, ladies-in-waiting all draw moon eyebrows. There is also this eyebrow description in Tang poetry, "Long-term dry Wu children, bright eyes and crescent moon" and "Juanjuan has a moon eyebrow", all of which are written in this eyebrow shape.

The Eyebrow Style of Maid-in-waiting in "The Picture of Walking"

Liu Yemei, whose eyebrows are painted like willow leaves, is also called "Liu Yemei". In literary works, there are poems in Wei Zhuang’s "The Female Crown Son", "Peach Blossom Face Still, Low Frequency of Willow Eyebrows", and descriptions of "but a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow" in Bai Juyi’s "Song of Eternal Sorrow".

Broad eyebrows: advocating long, wide and thick, which is very eye-catching.

Holding a picture of Ruyi Maid, unearthed in Jingling, Wu Huifei, collected in Shaanxi History Museum, the picture is taken by the author himself.

Moth eyebrow, distant eyebrow and green eyebrow: long, thin and light eyebrows were popular in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi’s "Shangyang People" has a saying: "Qingdai has a slender eyebrow, and it is the makeup of the last years of Tianbao." There is also a description of Li Shangyin’s "Gift" that "the spring mountain is always swept away, and I don’t know how much sorrow there is", and there is also a description of Mrs. Guo in Zhang Hu’s "Gathering the Lingtai" that "she hates the color, but sweeps away the moth’s eyebrows to the supreme".

Eight-character eyebrows: In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the combined makeup of eight-character eyebrows, black lips and vertebral bun was once popular, which was called "Yuanhe Fashion Makeup". At this time, compared with the eight-character eyebrow in Han dynasty, the eight-character eyebrow is wider and more curved.

Mural of Zhaoyi Cemetery in Anyang, Henan Province (AD 829), in which the female eyebrows are shaped like eight eyebrows.

03 lip makeup

Lip fat in the Tang Dynasty had a certain shape. In Yuan Zhen’s Biography of Yingying, there is a record of "five inches of mouth fat".

At that time, oral fat was a tubular object, which was not much different from modern lipstick. The color of oral fat is also very rich, including sandalwood, vermilion, crimson and other colors.

The shape of lip makeup, with small cherry mouth as the priority and small and round as the beauty, reached its peak in the late Tang Dynasty.

Several kinds of lip makeup popular in the Tang Dynasty, the table was changed from Zhou Xun and Gao Chunming’s "Women’s Cosmetics in China in Past Dynasties"

04 mianshi

In the Tang Dynasty, all kinds of decorations have entered the homes of ordinary people. Women’s face ornaments have different shapes and rich colors, which is a very distinctive aspect of women’s makeup in the Tang Dynasty.

Erhuang makeup began in the Han Dynasty, was popular in the Six Dynasties, and flourished in Sui and Tang Dynasties. Tang Lu Zhaolin’s "Chang ‘an Ancient Meaning" recorded this kind of makeup: "The crow’s yellow powder is white in the car, and it contains delicate feelings."

In the part of the Book Map of the Northern Qi School, the maid painted her forehead and nose light yellow, which some scholars think is "forehead yellow makeup".

In the Tang Dynasty, the forehead yellow makeup developed a new style-Rui Huang makeup, and the flower image was painted with yellow powder on the forehead, which was very gorgeous. In Nan Ge Zi written by Wen Tingyun in Tang Dynasty, there is a sentence that "flowers are full of green flowers", which shows its popularity.

Oblique red is generally depicted in the temple, or like a string moon, or like a scar. Sometimes, in order to cause the feeling of being broken, rouge is used to dye it into blood. However, Xiehong disappeared after the late Tang Dynasty.

The women on the silk paintings unearthed from the tomb of Astana Tang have a red color at the temple, which is "oblique red".

Flower buds, simple as dots, complex with gold foil, mica, fish gill bone and other flower shapes (see the table below). The flower buds are attached to the forehead, just like a flower after flower.

All kinds of flower buds, the picture is from Zhou Xun and Gao Chunming’s "China Women’s Adornment"

Face-washing, mostly with rouge or pigment, is like two small moles at the dimples on both sides of the corners of the mouth. After the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the styles of dough figurines increased, some shaped like coins, some shaped like apricots and peaches, and some shaped like flowers.

The head of female figurines in Lushun Museum is full of flowers, oblique reds and faces.

05 skin care products

The concept of skin care in the Tang Dynasty is very particular. All kinds of skin care products are exquisite and exquisite: facial fat is used to moisturize the skin; Bath beans, similar to modern soap, are used to wash faces; Fragrant, used to moisten hair …

In Du Fu’s poem La Ri, there is a poem that "oral fat and flour medicine is accompanied by grace, and the jade tube is in the clouds." The oral fat and facial medicine mentioned in the poem are cosmetic products applied to the lips and face, which are similar to our current lip balm and moisturizing cream, and can protect skin and prevent freezing.

In the Tang Dynasty, emperors often gave courtiers ointment in the twelfth lunar month, showing their consideration and love for their subordinates and showing the royal family’s "grace".

In Tang Dynasty, Feihong’s silver mussel box with broken branches was collected by Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology, which was an instrument for holding cosmetics and skin care products.

Looking at the beautiful female figurines and pictures of ladies in the museum, the beauty of thousands of years ago seems to be alive, which has narrowed the distance with modern people. There are still many secrets about their makeup, and this article is just a preliminary study.

Main reference materials:

Li Ya’s Decorations of China in Past Dynasties

Zhou Xun and Gao Chunming’s "China Women’s Cosmetics in Past Dynasties"

Meng Hui’s Red Sweat of the Imperial Lady

(Source: "The museum sees the exhibition" WeChat official account Author: Babao porridge)