The loom that stores the pattern in a set of shafts (the Laoguanshan models)
A loom on which a repeating pattern is set not by the weaver's hand but by an installed set of shafts with heddles (loops that lift the warp threads). Models of such a loom were found in a Han tomb near Chengdu. They are the earliest known evidence of a pattern loom, and the authors of the publication call the arrangement of shafts a programme.
This is how the polychrome figured silk called jin was woven, a cloth that travelled across Eurasia. The authors hold that this loom was the basis of the invention of the drawloom, which then moved west.
Why this date
Approximate. The Laoguanshan tomb at Chengdu was excavated in 2012-2013 and published in Antiquity in 2017. From the style of the chamber and a Western Han bronze coin the authors assign it to the reigns of Jingdi (157-141 BC) and Wudi (141-88 BC) and speak of the second half of the second century BC. The axis value is a convention taken in the middle of that span; the find has no exact date.
Links under review
-
The grande tire drawloom: the design as a set of cords and the work of the drawboy
influenced · Confidence: medium
The sources speak of the drawloom in general and take it only as far as medieval Italy; the link to the specific Lyon loom of 1605 is an editorial assumption.
The authors of the publication on the Han models hold that this loom was the basis of the invention of the draw loom, which was then introduced to the West; the Lyon grande tire loom of 1605 is a late western form of the drawloom; the sources do not trace the chain of transmission link by link.
Dispute: A dispute about the origin of the drawloom. The authors of the Antiquity paper, and on their account Needham and James, derive it from China; Britannica is more cautious and says the origin is unknown and an East Asian first use only probable. No source sets out the chain of transmission step by step: seventeen centuries lie between the Han find and the Lyon loom, and the links are not traced. This is therefore an influence traced through the construction of the machine, not a direct descent.
Link sources
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
We believe that this shaft pattern loom was the basis for the invention of the draw loom, which was then introduced to the West.
- Zhao F. et al. (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
We believe that this shaft pattern loom was the basis for the invention of the draw loom, which was then introduced to the West (Persia, India and Europe), indicating that the Chinese silk pattern loom made a significant contribution to the subsequent development of world textile culture and weaving technology.
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017)
Many scholars, such as Needham and James, attribute the invention of the pattern loom or draw loom to ancient China.
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
the design of the machine influenced the invention of later looms and the spread of technology throughout Eurasia and Europe
- Britannica, «Textile: Horizontal frame looms» Verified 20 Sep 2026
Its origin is unknown, but it probably was first used in East Asia for silk weaving and was introduced into the silk-working centres of Italy during the Middle Ages.
"Verified" means that on that day the quotation was found at the address given, word for word. No date means we have not been able to open the source yet, not that the quotation is wrong.
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
Node sources
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
Excavation of the Han Dynasty chambered tomb at Laoguanshan in Chengdu, south-west China, has provided the earliest known evidence of pattern loom technology.
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
From the tomb style and the discovery of a Western Han bronze coin, the chamber was dated to the reigns of Emperors Jingdi (157-141 BC) and Wudi (141-88 BC) of the Western Han Dynasty.
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026, quotation assembled from fragments
A pattern loom is a weaving device with a set of shafts with heddles ... that allow a pattern programme to be installed and used to create continuous repeating patterns.
- Zhao F., Wang Y., Luo Q., Long B., Zhang B., Xia Y., Xie T., Wu S., Xiao L. «The earliest evidence of pattern looms: Han Dynasty tomb models from Chengdu, China», Antiquity 91 (356), 2017, 360-374, DOI 10.15184/aqy.2016.267 (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
Jin silk, made using this method, was both valuable and widely distributed, and the design of the machine influenced the invention of later looms and the spread of technology throughout Eurasia and Europe, representing great technological accomplishment for the second century BC.
- Zhao F. et al. (2017) Verified 20 Sep 2026
The early date of the find suggests that it influenced the invention of the draw loom (see Zhao 2014).
"Verified" means that on that day the quotation was found at the address given, word for word. No date means we have not been able to open the source yet, not that the quotation is wrong. "Assembled from fragments" means the words do not stand together on the page: we found each fragment separately and joined them with an ellipsis.