This gown was found in perfect condition after 2000 years, lying next to an aristocrat lady who beauty has been preserved as well as the gown.
Inside the innermost coffin, Lady Dai’s body was carefully wrapped in twenty-two1 layers of luxurious embroidered and damask silk shrouds and clothing, tied together with nine silk ribbons.2 Together with the coffin, additional clothings were found buried.
Straight Lapel Plain Unlined Silk Gauze Gown 直裾素纱襌衣3
Silk, cotton | Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD) | Length: 128cm, overall length of sleeves: 190cm, total area: 2.6 sqm, weight: 49g | From Tomb 1, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China | Hunan Provincial Museum collection 丝绵 | 西汉（公元前202年-公元9年） | 衣长128厘米，通袖长190厘米，共用料约2.6平方米，仅重49克｜湖南省马王堆1号墓出土 | 湖南省博物馆藏
The gauze gown with a straight lapel 直裾素纱褝衣4 has an opening at the right side.5 It weighs only 49 grams. This fabric as described in Han period document as “thin as a cicada’s wing, light as clouds and mist” (其薄如蝉翼、轻若云雾).
Most scholars think this translucent piece of clothing may have been worn on the outside of fancy clothing to enhance its beauty, giving it a gorgeous dreamlike quality. Others believe it was worn as underwear. 6
This piece of clothing, together with another similar gown, were the earliest, thinnest and lightest discovered to date. They showcase Western Han weaving technology at its peak, and represent the highest standards in silkworm farming, harvesting and weaving techniques in the early Han Dynasty.
The raw material for making this gown is the plain unlined gauze with square holes and level patterns. According to the measurement, the gauze is about 2.6 square meters. If the weight of the collars, cuffs and lapel made of damask silk 织锦缎7 is excluded, the gown is then only about 20g. The average weight of each square meter is only 12-13g.8
The gown is similar to the deep dress with upper and lower costume connected in the Han Dynasty, and the cuffs are wide. Except for the collar and cuffs decorated with brocade, the whole costume is made of single yarn without lining.
However, due to it being unearthed decades ago and imperfect preservation measures being used, it has been increasingly damaged by the influence of the external environment.9 Besides limited to exhibition in China only, I am afraid it may be taken out of circulation if it continues to degrade or when a replica can be made, so go and see it for yourself.
Diagonal Lapel Plain Unlined Silk Gauze Gown 曲裾素纱褝衣
Silk, cotton | Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD) | Length: 160cm, overall length of sleeves: 195cm, waist: 48cm, weight: 48g | From Tomb 1, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China | Hunan Provincial Museum collection 丝绵 | 西汉（公元前202年-公元9年） | 衣长160厘米、通袖长195厘米、袖口宽27厘米、腰宽48厘米，衣重48克｜湖南省马王堆1号墓出土 | 湖南省博物馆藏
The clothes favoured by Lady Dai were stored in a weaved bamboo box in the western compartment of the outer coffin in Tomb No. 1. Among the clothes, there are two plain unlined gauze gowns, the other is the equally astonishing plain unlined silk gauze gown with diagonal lapel 曲裾素纱褝(单)衣. This was not exhibited as it was slightly damaged due to a museum theft back in 1983.
The diagonal lapel gown is even lighter thant the straight lapel gown. However, the technique used to weave the silk gauze is identical for both. Efforts have been made to replicated the gown, but the best they could achieve so far is 49.5g. According to the experts, the silk yarn used is 10 den10 to achieve the lightness of the gown, which was not replicable now as the size of the silkworms farmed these days are much larger and therefore produce heavier yarn.11
Printed And Painted Floss Silk Padded Gauze Robe 印花敷彩纱丝绵袍
Silk, Cotton | Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD) | Overall length of the sleeves: 250cm, Length of the Dress: 129cm | From Tomb 1, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China | Hunan Provincial Museum collection 丝绵 | 西汉（公元前202年-公元9年） | 袖通长250厘米， 身长129厘米｜湖南省马王堆1号墓出土 | 湖南省博物馆藏
This gauze robe is made of printed and coloured gauze. The inner side, the sleeves, collars and fringes are made of damask silk. There is silk-floss padding 丝绵絮 inside. 12
This type of robe was highly favoured by women of Han dynasty and is a cross-collar robe with a straight lapel that opens at the right.
The multi-colour printing technique was employed to produce this robe. The colours include vermilion, white, dark, grey, cool grey and warm grey. The lines of the patterns are clearly printed in a smooth manner.
With such superb craftsmanship, the silk fabric combining printing and colour painting used as the outer material of the gown is the first of its kind found in China.
Floss Silk Padded Robe With Lozenge Pattern On Vermilion Luo Silk Robe 朱红色菱形纹罗丝绵袍
Silk, Cotton | Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-9 AD) | length: 140 cm, overall length of the sleeves: 245 cm, width at waist: 52 cm | From Tomb 1, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, China | Hunan Provincial Museum collection 丝绵 | 西汉（公元前202年-公元9年） | 湖南省马王堆1号墓出土 | 湖南省博物馆藏
With the lining and edges made of plain juan silk, the robe was padded with silk floss. Vermillion is a very bright colour and the red dye mainly contains mercuric sulphide which is also called cinnabar. Finely and evenly dyed, the gauze’s pores appear very clear without being blocked. It reflects a rather high level in making dyes and in dyeing techniques. Such kind of silk robes were presumably favoured by Xin Zhui and it was also the fashionable clothes of the early Han Dynasty
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
Footnotes :
- The museum information card says 22 layers, experts say 20 layers. ↩︎
- Dr. Cortney E. Chaffin, “The search for immortality: The Tomb of Lady Dai,” in Smarthistory, January 10, 2022, accessed November 23, 2025, https://smarthistory.org/tomb-of-lady-dai/ ↩︎
- 《说文》：“褝，衣不重也。从衣，单声。”《释名·释衣服》：“褝衣，言无里也。” ↩︎
- 辛追墓出土。右衽（rèn，衣襟）、直据（jū，前襟）。重49克。汉代文献描述其薄如蝉翼、轻若云雾。多数学者认为它应穿在绵袍之外，既可增其华丽，又具朦胧美感；也有学者认为是内衣。这是迄今所见最早、最薄、最轻的服装珍品，是西汉时期纺织巅峰之作，代表了汉初养蚕、缫丝、织造工艺的最高水平。Museum information card, Oct 2025 ↩︎
- 此件素纱褝衣为交领,右衽,直裾，款式类似于当时流行的上下衣裳相连的深衣。面料为素纱，边缘为几何纹绒圈锦。因无颜色，没有衬里，出土遣册称其为素纱襌衣。《说文解字》：褝，衣不重也。从衣，单声。《礼记•玉藻》：“褝为絅”，郑玄注:“有衣裳而无里。”也就是没有衬里的衣服。素纱丝缕极细，重量还不到一两。如果除去袖口和领口，襌衣的重量只有25克左右，折叠后甚至可以放入火柴盒中，可谓“薄如蝉翼”、“轻若烟雾”。色彩鲜艳，纹饰绚丽。它代表了西汉初养蚕、缫丝、织造工艺的最高水平。https://www.hnmuseum.com/zh-hans/zuixintuijie/直裾素纱襌衣, accessed 27 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- 《诗经•郑风•丰》：“衣锦衣，裳锦裳。”按史书记载或常识推理，应该是套在色彩艳丽的丝绵袍外，使丝绵袍上华丽的花纹多一分欲露又掩的朦胧之美，不仅增强了衣饰的层次感，更衬托出锦衣的华美与尊贵，这倒也符合中国人不事张扬、含蓄、内敛的传统审美情趣。有着轻柔和飘逸质感的纱衣，穿在女子身上，迎风而立，徐步而行，飘然若飞，尽显女性的柔美。可一个现实的问题是：要想套在肥大的印花敷彩丝绵袍上，几乎是完全不可能的。也许是冥器？也有人认为其适合作为内衣穿着，是一种性感内衣。https://www.hnmuseum.com/zh-hans/zuixintuijie/直裾素纱襌衣, accessed 27 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- Damask, patterned textile, deriving its name from the fine patterned fabrics produced in Damascus (Syria) in the European Middle Ages. True damask was originally wholly of silk, but gradually the name came to be applied to a certain type of patterned fabric regardless of fibre. https://www.britannica.com/topic/damask, accessed 25 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- https://www.hnmuseum.com/en/content/plain-unlined-gauze-gown, accessed 25 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- “Research on Digital Restoration of Plain Unlined Silk Gauze Gown of Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb Based on AHP and Human–Computer Interaction Technology” by Kaixuan Liu, Jiayu Zhao1 and Chun Zhu in Sustainability, 2022, 14(14), 8713; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148713, accessed 25 Nov 2025 ↩︎
- Den (Denier) 旦 is the measure for grams per 9,000 metres of yarn. So the smaller the den, the lighter the yarn. The lightest den for commercial silk yarn currently achievable is 14 den. ↩︎
- 马王堆一号汉墓出土的素纱禅衣一共两件，除了直裾素纱褝衣外，还有曲裾素纱褝衣，衣长160厘米、通袖长195厘米、袖口宽27厘米、腰宽48厘米，衣重48克，是世界上现存年代最早、保存最完整、制作工艺最精、最轻薄的一件衣服。据了解，素纱襌衣是由单经单纬丝交织而成的一种方孔平纹织物，其经密度一般每厘米为58根至64根，纬密度每厘米就有40根至50根纱。透空率为75%左右，每平方米纱料仅重15.4克。因其密度较为稀疏，孔眼里充满织物的表面。同时纱料的旦数小，丝纤度细，这也就是为什么素纱襌衣如此之轻薄的原因。“旦”全称旦尼儿，是丝织学上对织物的蚕丝纤度专用的计量单位，每九千米长的单丝重一克，就是一旦。旦数越小，则丝纤度越细。经测定，素纱襌衣的蚕丝纤度只有10.2至11.3旦，而现在生产的高级丝织物还有14旦。足见汉代缫纺蚕丝技术的高度发展，实乃中华文明、楚汉文化之骄傲。
马王堆一号汉墓出土的素纱禅衣一共两件，除了直裾素纱褝衣外，还有曲裾素纱褝衣，衣长160厘米、通袖长195厘米、袖口宽27厘米、腰宽48厘米，衣重48克，是世界上现存年代最早、保存最完整、制作工艺最精、最轻薄的一件衣服。据了解，素纱襌衣是由单经单纬丝交织而成的一种方孔平纹织物，其经密度一般每厘米为58根至64根，纬密度每厘米就有40根至50根纱。透空率为75%左右，每平方米纱料仅重15.4克。因其密度较为稀疏，孔眼里充满织物的表面。同时纱料的旦数小，丝纤度细，这也就是为什么素纱襌衣如此之轻薄的原因。“旦”全称旦尼儿，是丝织学上对织物的蚕丝纤度专用的计量单位，每九千米长的单丝重一克，就是一旦。旦数越小，则丝纤度越细。经测定，素纱襌衣的蚕丝纤度只有10.2至11.3旦，而现在生产的高级丝织物还有14旦。足见汉代缫纺蚕丝技术的高度发展，实乃中华文明、楚汉文化之骄傲。https://www.hnmuseum.com/zh-hans/zuixintuijie/直裾素纱襌衣, accessed 25 Nov 2025 ↩︎ - https://www.hnmuseum.com/en/content/printed-and-painted-floss-silk-padded-gauze-robe, accessed 25 Nov 2025 ↩︎
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