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# Study and restoration of the costume of the HuoLang (Peddler) in the Ming Dynasty of China

C. Zhu, Y. Y. Gao, J. P. Wang, Xianyi Zeng, Pascal Bruniaux, K. X. Liu

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## To cite this version:

C. Zhu, Y. Y. Gao, J. P. Wang, Xianyi Zeng, Pascal Bruniaux, et al.. Study and restoration of the costume of the HuoLang (Peddler) in the Ming Dynasty of China. Autex Research Journal, 2025, Autex Res. J., 25 (1), 10.1515/aut-2023-0053. [hal-04971147](https://hal-04971147)

HAL Id: hal-04971147

https://lilloa.hal.science/hal-04971147v1

Submitted on 28 Feb 2025

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# STUDY AND RESTORATION OF THE COSTUME OF THE HUOLANG (PEDDLER) IN THE MING DYNASTY OF CHINA

Chun Zhu<sup>1,2,3</sup>, Yuanyuan Gao<sup>2</sup>, Jianping Wang<sup>1*</sup>, Xianyi Zeng<sup>3</sup>, Pascal Bruniaux<sup>3</sup>, Kaixuan Liu<sup>2,3*</sup>

1 Fashion and Art Design Institute, Donghua University, Shanghai, 200051, China

2 Apparel and Art Design College, Xi'an Polytechnic University, Xi'an, 710048, China

3 GEMTEX Laboratory, ENSAIT, Roubaix, 59100, France

*Corresponding author. E-mail: wangjp@dhu.edu.cn, L40260611@hotmail.com

## Abstract:

This study looks at two aspects of ancient Chinese genre painting to interpret the more realistic ancient shopping scenes in the painting of the peddler in spring scenery in the Ming Dynasty, namely, the Ming spring scene and the characters' costume image features. Through the analysis of the detailed characteristics of the style, structure, pattern, and color of the figure costume in the painting of the peddler, a total of five sets of figure costume for an adult male and four children in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty in China were digitally restored using the 3D virtual fitting technology, which clearly showed the characteristics of the figure costume of the peddler and children in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The figure's costume style in the painting of the salesman restored in the article is Beizi, closed crotch trousers, open crotch trousers, and abdominal circumference (a type of apron from the Song Dynasty. It is made to resemble a short apron and is wrapped around the abdomen). The study of the painting of peddler in the Ming dynasty in this work provides a reference for future study on ancient Chinese genre paintings of peddler and the restoration of the costumes of the figures in the painting.

## Keywords:

Ming dynasty in China, the painting of peddler, three-dimensional modelling, children's costume, patterns of costume, costume restoration

## 1. Introduction

Chinese painting has three themes: landscape painting, figure painting, and flower and bird painting [1]. Landscape painting mainly depicts the natural scenery of mountains and rivers, while figure painting depicts people of various identities, and flower and bird painting mainly depicts flowers, birds, fish, and insects. As a major category of Chinese painting, figure painting can be divided into portrait painting, story painting, and genre painting. Genre, the external manifestation of social civilization, changes with the development of culture [2]. For example, people's daily habits have been passed down, which belongs to the category of genre. The genre painting is a figure painting that directly depicts people's daily life scenes. It has a long history in China. The prototype of the genre painting is the rock painting in the Paleolithic period and the painted pottery decoration in the Neolithic period [3], and it developed during the Warring States period and the Wei-Jin and North-South dynasties, reaching its peak during the Tang and Song dynasties, and declining during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. It has a very important status and influence in the history of Chinese fine art. The development of ancient Chinese genre painting, like other types of paintings, is from the spontaneity of the painter to the self-creation. The types of paintings are from few to more, and the contents of paintings are from simple to complex [4]. The genre painting first appeared in the murals and portraits of the Han Dynasty. It is a figure painting with the theme of the prevailing customs and habits in ancient Chinese

society. It depicts the living habits and customs of various nationalities and different social strata under the background of different periods in China [5], which all reflect the historical value and historical data value of the genre painting. As a kind of visual material, the colorful and vivid content depicted in the genre painting cannot be replaced by the historical records, and it is necessary that this invaluable pictorial material should be given wide world attention.

In Europe, the Netherlands, France, Russia, and other countries, the representative works of genre paintings in different periods are different. For example, at the end of the sixteenth century, Dutch genre painting was a more realistic new style. This type of painting formed part of a carefully designed cultural transmission process [6]. In the seventeenth century, as the golden age of the creation of Dutch genre paintings [7], the famous oil painting Winter Landscape created by Jan Steen depicts people's activities on the ice and land in a busy winter [8], The Girl with a Pearl Earring painted by Johannes Vermeer is a static figure oil painting. The painting is based on black. The maiden temperament in the painting is extraordinary. The figure's demeanor makes the audience think. The visual effect of the picture is relatively strong [9]. The oil painting Washerman painted by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, a French painter in the eighteenth century, is one of the author's early genre paintings. The painting depicts the scene of a laundry woman turning her head and a child sitting on a low stool playing with soap bubbles. The picture highlights the poor living conditions of the

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characters in the painting and the innocent emotional color of the children. The oil painting Barge Haulers on the Volga, painted by the nineteenth century Russian painter Ilya Repin, depicts a group of depressing haulers gathering their strength to pull the barge on the bank of the Volga. This painting highlights the difficult life atmosphere of the Russian haulers in the nineteenth century, and also expresses the sympathy of the painter for the life of the people at the bottom [10]. These genre paintings of different periods have quite rich and sincere feelings. Through painting, painters make the characters in the paintings and the surrounding environment echo each other, and also show the most important aspect of painters' inner activities. American genre painting is one of the most neglected research fields in the history of art. Elizabeth Johns put forward a different interpretation of genre painting. She believed that genre painting has a more important and less ideal connection with the political and cultural life at that time. Her works put genre painting in a larger social background and supplemented the field of art history [11]. Although the content of painting in Chinese and Western genre paintings is different, each painting contains different emotions. While feeling these emotions, you can also study the costumes of people in different periods. The costumes most easily reflect the culture of people in different periods.

The study of costume restoration is the foundation of clothing cultural heritage. At present, there are two main methods of costume restoration study: physical restoration and three-dimensional digital restoration. These two different methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. The physical restoration method refers to the multiple processes of pattern making, fabric cutting, sample clothing production, fitting, plate repair, ready-to-wear production, etc., after the study of costume structure. This method has a long production cycle and high cost, but the final restored costume fabric, pattern, technology, and details of costume shape are similar to cultural relics. The 3D digital restoration method is easy to operate, saves manpower and material resources, and is easy to modify. The costume restoration display is more intuitive, specific, and vivid. At present, human-computer interaction and three-dimensional digital restoration technology are relatively mature. Digital virtual simulation and restoration of traditional costume help us achieve more rapid and efficient protection of cultural relics, and many studies have completed the restoration of cultural relics and costumes in different periods with the help of this technology, such as Han Xizai Night Banquet Painting [12], Spring Outing Painting of Madam Guo [13], the painting of Beauties Wearing Flowers [14], the plain unlined silk gauze gown of Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb [15], Costumes in Tang Tomb Murals [16], etc.

The types of things depicted in ancient Chinese genre paintings include baby play, HuoLang (peddler), city wall, market, farming and weaving, etc. The objects depicted by the creators are life-like, and the emotions expressed in the paintings are also very different. As one of the categories of genre paintings, the painting of peddler clearly shows people the scene of trading between the peddler and children who carried the peddlers' burden around in ancient society in China. In this painting, we can not only feel the specific situation of ancient social productivity through the peddler and his burden, but also understand the composition of the images painted by the painters. At the same time, the paintings

of peddler are also helpful for the study of ancient Chinese peddler and children's costumes.

This study takes the scroll painting of the Ming People's spring scenery of the peddler in the Palace Museum of China as the object of study. The author is unknown. Combining with relevant documents, paintings, and books, the composition of the painting is analyzed to explain the sales activities of the peddler. The painting of the peddler shows the goods carried and sold by the peddler during the Ming Dynasty in China, and shows the life scene of children buying goods and playing in the Ming Dynasty. The figure image is lifelike, the figure costume lines are smooth, and the costume color and pattern are clearly visible, which provides a solid basis for our study of children's costume of the Ming Dynasty in China. Therefore, this work makes a detailed study of the five characters' costumes in the painting of peddler from the five aspects of style, structure, pattern, color and fabric, uses computer aided technology to complete the drawing of the Ming Dynasty costume patterns, and uses virtual simulation technology to digitally restore and display the five sets of characters' costumes, which not only reproduces the character's costume style of the Chinese Ming Dynasty genre painting, but also gives us the opportunity to understand the life characteristics of the people in the Ming Dynasty. The study of the figure costume in the painting of peddler can supplement the content of the costume study in the Ming Dynasty. The digital restoration of the figure costume is conducive to the establishment of the virtual museum of ancient Chinese costume, the preservation of ancient Chinese costume, and the study of ancient Chinese costume by archaeologists, so as to achieve a better inheritance and protection of traditional Chinese culture.

## 2. Method

### 2.1. General scheme

The article mainly studies the painting of the peddler in spring in Ming Dynasty from two parts, e.g., Figure 1. The first part starts from the painting itself, and mainly studies and analyzes from three aspects: the performance of the painting, the goods carried by the peddler, and the composition of the painting. This part clearly shows and describes to the audience the peddler (supermarkets) flowing among the people in ancient China and the superb and unique painting skills of ancient Chinese painters. The second part is the focus of this study. It starts from the figure costume, analyzes the style, structure, pattern, color, costume fabric, and accessories of the figure costume in the painting, draws the costume pattern with the help of computer-aided technology, recovers each costume pattern with the vector graphics editing software, and finally uses the virtual simulation technology to digitally restore and display the figure costumes.

### 2.2. Study on the painting of the peddler

#### 2.2.1. Painting representation of the painting of the peddler

According to the different objects depicted, the genre paintings can be divided into: the painting of baby play, HuoLang
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 1.** The archaeology and costume restoration in the painting of the peddler in the Ming Dynasty in China.</figcaption></figure>

(peddler), farming and weaving, among which the paintings of the peddler are considered to be the true portrayal of mobile peddler in daily life. Peddler was popular in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China. They carried the peddlers' burden or box to sell the small goods bought in the city to the countryside to benefit from it to support their families. This occupation connected the city and the countryside and promoted the development of ancient economy. By comparing the paintings left at present, we can find that the painting of the salesman not only reflects the ancient people's preference for the job of peddler, but also shows that the ancient Chinese people carried forward the charm of their traditional folk customs. As shown in Figure 2, we choose the paintings of the peddler in different periods to display and compare them. The peddler first appeared in the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by the painter Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty, there are two peddlers selling flowers in front of Sun Yang Store and Zheng Store (the store name). The difference lies in the shape of peddler's burden. The peddler's burden at the front of Sun Yang Store is relatively simple, while the burden at the front of Zheng Store is supported by a large round umbrella, and the peddler sits on the stool behind his burden. The figure's costume and color in this painting are generally single. In the painting of the peddler painted by Su Hanchen, a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, there are two adult peddlers. The owner of the peddler's car pushes the wheelbarrow. We speculate that another peddler is a friend of the owner of the peddler who helps the salesman to sell. The painting shows a simple but beautifully decorated wheelbarrow, with wheel inlaid with colored stones and cargo boxes on either side of the wheel, and a wide range of goods inside the boxes, including children's toys, weapons, agricultural tools, and sundries. This painting shows the bustling scene of two peddlers and several children trading and playing. The peonies and beautiful characters' costume colors painted in the painting all exude the life atmosphere of luxury and wealth.

The painting of the peddler painted by Li Song of the Southern Song Dynasty depicts the scene of a peddler carrying his burden to sell goods to women and children at the village entrance. Peddler's burden is full of various daily necessities. In order to attract customers, the peddler's hat also displays gadgets, and his waist is full of various children's toys. After careful observation, the salesman also hangs the words "300 pieces" to attract customers to reflect the variety of goods. The goods carried by the peddler include fruit drinks, children's toys,

daily groceries, etc. In the painting of peddler drawn by Qian Xuan, a painter of the Yuan Dynasty, the salesman carries a load of goods on his shoulder, and a woman comes with three boys and a girl to watch. The costumes of the characters in the painting are extremely simple, and the color is single. The shape of the burden is the same as the Song Dynasty, which is full of children's toys, farm implements, daily necessities, etc. Lu Wenying, a painter of the Ming Dynasty, painted the four paintings of peddler in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, which are basically the same in composition, characters, and scenes. The most prominent feature is that different flowers and trees are used to show the four seasons. For example, peach blossom and peony represent spring, hollyhock, and willow represent summer, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, and sycamore tree represent autumn, while plum blossom, camellia, bamboo, and pine represent the winter [17].

### 2.2.2. Study of commodities in the painting of peddler

The creator of the painting combines peddler and children takes the peddler and the burden behind him as the center, creating a shopping scene in which the salesperson attracts children to watch and buy, and sell a variety of small commodities. Under the social background of the lack of material and the single way of entertainment in the Ming Dynasty of China, the small goods peddled by peddler brought joy to children and met the material needs of the people in the market.

In the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery in the Ming Dynasty studied in this work, the peddler's box (burden) is composed of two boxes and canopies (umbrella cover), and the peddler's burden is extremely delicate. The goods carried by the peddler are placed in an orderly manner according to the category. There are two layers of canopy supported in the middle of the burden carried by the salesman. The canopy at the top is smaller, and the canopy above the peddler's box is larger. The two layers of canopies are decorated with colorful fabrics. The canopy is covered with decorations that can float with the wind. The purpose of the canopies is to attract customers and shield the wind and rain. The two burdens carried by the peddler are designed as double-layer structures to accommodate more objects. The objects in the left burden are mainly porcelain, and the bottom one is a wide-mouth porcelain that seems to contain water. By analogy with the objects placed in front of child B, it is presumed that it is a wide-mouth vessel filled with water and small fish, and the rest of the vessels are
<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 2.** The paintings of the peddler in different periods in China (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>

used to contain fresh peaches, some are covered, and some
are used to contain red coral, which is one of the seven treas-
ures of Buddhism. It is often used by Buddhism to make prayer
beads or decorate Buddha statues, and is regarded as auspi-
cious and developed by ancient Chinese. The upper end of the
left burden is mainly placed with porcelain. Compared with the

burden on the left, the items in the box on the right are more
disorderly. The lower layer of the burden is filled with fresh
peaches and peonies and a little porcelain. In the middle of
the upper layer of the burden is an open bottle shaped like
lotus. In the ceramic bottle, fresh peaches, lotus seeds, and a
narrow bottle with a plant are placed. All kinds of vessels are
covered around the open ceramic bottle: round ceramic bottle, narrow ceramic bottle, narrow high waist ceramic bottle, and some hexagonal open ceramic bottles. Two thin and long bamboo poles are tied to the part of the peddler's burden on both sides near peddler's shoulder. The bamboo poles are used to hang many fans and more decorations to highlight the wide variety of peddler's burden. There are crescent-shaped ornaments on the peddler's burden, which are covered with metal decoration and inlaid with colored gemstones. The overall material of the burdens is wood, supplemented by a few bamboos and metal, and the burdens on both sides are mainly painted in red and with exquisite patterns. Compared with the simple and light folk burden, which focuses more on practical functions, the burden studied in this work is more inclined to the royal. For the royal nobles in the palace, they pay more attention to the noble status and the quality of goods. For example, modern rich businessmen are more inclined to choose luxury consumption. Compared with the paintings of the peddler in the same period, such as Figure 2, the paintings of the salesmen in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty studied in this work are more luxurious. Therefore, we can infer that the scenes shown in the paintings of peddler studied in this work are more inclined to the palace theater performances than the actual sales activities.

### 2.2.3. Composition analysis of the painting

There are mainly three types of Chinese painting: round, square, and rectangular panels. The object of this study is the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty, which is now stored in the Palace Museum. The author is unknown, and this painting is in the form of a rectangular vertical axis. In ancient China, mineral pigments were often used to paint and color. The paintings of peddler were rich in color. The commonly used colors were as follows: stone blue, stone green, cinnabar, clam powder, rouge, cyan, ochre, etc. As shown in Figure 3, the scene in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty is located in a corner of the courtyard. The peonies, peach trees, and fruits in the painting can be inferred that it was in spring. The painting can be divided into three scenes: the front, the middle, and the rear. The foreground of the painting is painted with two children, Taihu stone, and a small amount of flowers. The salesman peddler and his burden are in the middle of the painting. The behind of the salesman are painted with Taihu stone and trees. The long view is painted with the canopies of peddler's burden and there is a guardrail at the corner of the courtyard. The characters in the painting are lifelike, and the lines of the costumes are smooth. The identity of the characters can be judged from the costumes they wear. No matter the color of the painting, the costumes of the characters, the scene of the painting, or the luxury of peddler's burden are full of strong court atmosphere. It can be inferred that the painting is probably a true portrayal of the daily life of the upper class of the Ming Dynasty. This painting provides a solid image material for us to study the social customs of the Ming Dynasty in China and the costumes of the peddler and children in the Ming Dynasty in China. There are five characters depicted in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty. The peddler and child C are located in the center of the painting. These two

people look at each other. Peddler bends down, holds the goods in his right hand, and stretches out his left hand to take away the paper money from child C's hand. Child A holds the lotus in one hand and the narrow-mouth ceramic bottle in the other hand to try to insert the flower branch into the ceramic bottle. Child B naturally lies on the side of child A, watching the swimming fish in the wide ceramic bottle in front of him, and stretches out his hands to try to catch the fish. Child D was hiding behind the peddler's burden and was staring at the conical toy in his hand. Although the whole painting depicts ordinary people and things, the theme of the painting is bright and the content is rich, which makes the market life in China's Ming Dynasty achieve the effect of art in the present in the form of images.

## 2.3. Costumes of the figure of the peddler

### 2.3.1. Shape and style of the costumes

There are four main types of characters' costumes in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty: Beizi, robe, trousers, and the belly circumference. As for the costume of peddler, he is wearing a short Beizi with wide sleeves, the sleeves of which are as long as the elbow, the two sides of Beizi are split higher than the chest, and the hem of the Beizi falls freely. He is wearing closed crotch trousers. The trousers are wrapped with a square piece of cloth,

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Figure 3. The painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>
i.e., the belly circumference. The hem of the Beizi is hanging over the belly circumference. The trousers and the belly circumference are tied and closed at the waist in the way of waist lace-up. The right shoulder of peddler is covered with a sweat towel. From the painting, we can clearly find that the fabric of the waist and trousers is thin and translucent, only the belly circumference is slightly thick, and the peddler's costume is light and elegant as a whole. Compared with the costumes of the peddler, the costumes of the other four children in the painting are more gorgeous. However, the children's costumes lacked written records before the Tang Dynasty in China, and the concept of "children's costumes" appeared in modern times. Western countries paid high attention to children as early as the 1970s and 1980s. In 1960, French scholar Philippe Aries published "The Century of Children," which seriously accepted children for the first time, thus making children's clothing receive enough attention [18]. In ancient China, the costume worn by children was a shortened version of adult costume, and there was no statement that costume was designed specifically for children. There was no complicated hierarchical difference in the style and color of children's costume. Child A is wearing a round-necked narrow-sleeved robe. The inside of the collar is wrapped with a white square collar to match the narrow sleeve robe. Because the child in the painting is squatting, the size of the robe is difficult to determine. We infer that the lower hem of the robe is probably at the knee joint, and the child is wearing trousers on the leg, which are as long as the ankle. Child B is dressed in Beizi with a short split on both sides. From the painting, we can see that the material in the quilt is cyan. Since the buttocks of the child in the painting are clearly visible, we can see that the trousers' style is open crotch trousers. The open crotch trousers are used as children's costume mainly to solve the physiological needs of children and also to protect the children's waist. The overall costume shape and collocation of child C is consistent with that of the costume of the peddler. The upper body is Beizi, with short forks on both sides of the waist, long trousers under the waist, and the belly circumference around the trousers. Because the belly circumference covers the crotch, it is impossible to determine whether the trousers have crotch. Because child C is younger, we speculate that child C should wear open crotch trousers for physiological needs. Child D is the only figure in the whole painting who shows half of his body, but it can be inferred from his height that his age is similar to that of child A. Therefore, we infer that he is wearing a round-necked narrow-sleeved robe and closed crotch trousers.

In this study, after studying the figure costumes in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty, we drew the figure costumes style drawing in the painting, as shown in Figure 3. The Beizi worn by the peddler and child B are double-breasted, wide sleeves, and the length of the sleeve reaches the elbow. The costumes of children A and D are round-necked narrow-sleeved robes, the trousers are closed crotch trousers, and children B and C wear open crotch trousers under the robes (Figure 4).

### 2.3.2. Costume patterns and colors

Costume is composed of "clothing" and "decoration." Clothing, namely, hat decoration, upper garment, lower garment, foot

shoes, etc., are used to protect various parts of the human body. Decoration, namely, clothing patterns, accessories, ornaments, etc., are used to decorate clothing. Ancient Chinese costume patterns are rich in variety, profound in meaning, and complex in functions, such as decoration, blessing, totem, social status, and functionality. The costume patterns in various periods of ancient China will evolve with the changes in history, economic development, and aesthetic concepts. The characteristics of the costume patterns before the Ming Dynasty are as follows: dignified, orderly, fresh and clean, thick, simple and thin, rich and beautiful, rational, bold, and rough. Affected by the economic development, the costume patterns of the Ming Dynasty were mainly based on the implication of good luck, peace, and good wishes. The middle and late Ming Dynasty were at the end of China's feudal society, with its booming economy and rapid development of handicraft industry. The social level was permeated with the fashion of pursuing luxury. The costume patterns became rich and colorful. Influenced by the secular culture, it can be inferred from the content and arrangement of the figure costume patterns that it had certain realism.

The patterns of people's costume in the Ming Dynasty are mainly divided into six categories: plant patterns, animal patterns, natural weather patterns, treasure patterns, geometric patterns, and figure patterns. Plant patterns mainly include peony, Chinese herbaceous peony, pomegranate flower, chrysanthemum, begonia flower, bamboo, pine, etc. Animal patterns include tiger, crane, mandarin duck, carp, butterfly, flying fish, magpie, etc. Natural weather patterns include sun, moon, water, fire, clouds, stars, etc. Treasure patterns include coral pattern, gold ingot pattern, silver ingot pattern, ivory pattern, Ruyi (如意) pattern, rhinoceros' horn pattern, etc. Geometric patterns include diamond pattern, Wan (ван) pattern, lock pattern, Hui (回) pattern, Qiulu (棋路) pattern, etc. The figure patterns include 100 playing children, the painting of the beauty, children at play design, etc. While each type of costume pattern plays a decorative role, it has a specific meaning behind the pattern. For example, pine, bamboo, and plum represent sincere friendship. In ancient China, peony is known as a flower of wealth and honor, symbolizing wealth, longevity, and good happiness. Pomegranate flowers symbolize many children and many blessings, tiger patterns are mainly used to drive away evil, butterflies symbolize beauty and freedom, and magpies indicate good luck and good comfort. People design natural objects into natural weather patterns, and draw weather patterns in different shapes. These weather patterns, together with animal patterns and figure patterns, form poetic images. Different weather patterns can be combined and arranged to generate new patterns, such as the eight treasures pattern, the Sihe Ruyi pattern, and the seven treasures pattern. Geometric patterns form new unit geometric patterns by means of rotation, symmetry, interlacing, and filling. These patterns are differentiated clearly, closely connected, and layered. These patterns are mainly auspicious, such as septaria, chess pattern, whorl pattern, lock pattern, etc.

The figure costume patterns in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty, which are studied in this work, are mainly summarized in Figure 5. As shown in this
<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 4.** The costume style drawing in the painting of the peddler.</figcaption></figure>

figure, we use vector graphics editing software to draw and display nine types of costume patterns according to the painting. Among them, there are 13 main patterns of characters' costume, which are 回 pattern, copper coin pattern, Sihe Ruyi pattern, circular pattern, Ganoderma lucidum pattern, peony pattern, rhombus pattern, line, geometric pattern, flower pattern, cloud pattern, septaria, and fire pattern. All these 13 patterns have their own stories behind them. The pattern of the peddler's Beizi is composed of rhombus pattern, Sihe Ruyi pattern, geometric pattern, 回 pattern, and copper coin pattern. The rhombus pattern is simple and light, and the Sihe Ruyi pattern is composed of four Ruyi patterns, implying that things develop according to people's wishes. The 回 pattern is made by winding horizontal and vertical lines, which is similar to the shape of the Chinese character 回 and implies wealth never stop. The geometric pattern fills the four corners of the diamond, which makes the miscellaneous treasure patterns appear uniform and unbalanced. The copper coin pattern is derived from ancient coins and symbolizes wealth. It can be used alone or in pairs. These five patterns can be used alone or in combination. These patterns are collectively referred to as miscellaneous treasure patterns, which refer to treasures with certain meanings. Miscellaneous treasure patterns first appeared in the Song Dynasty as fabric patterns, and held its

ground in the Ming Dynasty, reflecting the elegant cultivation of literati, while the appearance of miscellaneous treasure patterns in the costume of peddler implies wealth and longevity. The patterns of the peddler's belly circumference and the children's C trousers are geometric patterns, which are nested by octagons and circles, implying good luck and depth. The patterns of the peddler's sweat towel on his right shoulder and the children's C Beizi are all peony geometric patterns. The peony symbolizes wealth, implies the prosperity of the country, and the representative characters are trustworthy. The 回 pattern, line, diamond pattern, and peony pattern on the sweat towel are used together, implying wealth and auspiciousness. The patterns of the peddler's trousers, child A's round-necked narrow-sleeved robe and child B's trousers all use various patterns of cloud patterns. The cloud patterns represent good luck and people are rising step by step, and this kind of pattern represents the people's awe of nature and hope for good luck. The cloud pattern on the peddler's trousers is cirrus cloud pattern, which is flowing and elegant. The cloud pattern on child A's round-necked narrow-sleeved robe is spiral cloud pattern. The spiral cloud pattern is slightly stiff matched with flower pattern to prevent monotony. The cloud pattern on the trousers of child B is Tuan cloud pattern. These patterns are primary and secondary points. Different cloud patterns
<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 5.** The restoration of the costume patterns in the painting of the peddler.</figcaption></figure>

are distinctive. The primary cloud pattern is larger, and the sec-
ondary cloud pattern is supplemented. Their combination is circular.
The ancient people regarded the circle as full and eternal, and never
stops. The pattern of child A's trousers and child C's belly circum-
ference is septaria composed of a hexagon embedded with a circle.
In ancient China, the septaria was often used for divination of good

or bad luck, so it was regarded as an auspicious pattern. The
pattern of child B's Beizi is fire pattern, which represents light and
implies that auspicious light shines and never goes out.

Costume patterns are used to decorate the costume of ancient
Chinese characters. Their forms have specific principles and
rules. Many costume patterns have formed fixed patterns over time, which are deeply loved and used by Chinese people. These beautiful and rich patterns reflect the ancient people's pursuit of beauty, reflect the flavor of the times, add an auspicious atmosphere to people's life, and express parents' good wishes for their children's future life.

The traditional color culture in ancient China has a deep foundation. The social, economic, political, and cultural factors of different dynasties will affect the change in costume color in a certain period of time. The characteristics of costume color culture in the Ming Dynasty are mainly determined by three factors: economic policy, textile level, and aesthetic appreciation of people in the Ming Dynasty [19]. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor Taizu in the Ming Dynasty was eager to rebuild the crown service system, and the complete dress etiquette system basically followed the Han and Tang dynasties. The class system of the Ming Dynasty was strict. During the Hongwu period, those with noble status wore yellow and red, and officials distinguished their rank by costume color. The Ming Dynasty belongs to fire deity, still red, and the emperor's surname is Zhu. Zhu is red, which is the positive color. Therefore, the main color of the Ming Dynasty is red. The colors used by the officials of the Ming Dynasty are from grade one to grade four in scarlet, from grade five to grade seven in cyan, and from grade eight to grade nine in green. People with lower status wear blue, white, and other plain colors. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the rulers attached great importance to the crown dress system and required the officials and people to strictly abide by the dress system. At this time, the people wore relatively simple costumes. With the development of the economy, the dyeing techniques and raw materials of the Ming Dynasty were improved, and the increase in the types of plant dyes made the color of the fabric become diversified. The lower status people gradually used the color of costume bypass the immediate leadership, so the color of folk costume became bright, and the people began to wear red. At the same time, the merchants made greater contributions to the development of the ancient economy, and the rulers' overall suppression of the merchants turned into partial resistance, which improved the social status of the merchants. They began to override the costume system and pursue the clothing made of high-quality fabrics, so their costume color also changed. From the early Ming Dynasty to the middle and late Ming Dynasty, people's costume

gradually became extravagant. This phenomenon also fully shows that when things develop to a certain stage, people's ideas change, and some hierarchy systems will be gradually broken.

Figure 6 shows the costume color of the characters in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty. Compared with Figure 2, which shows the costume color of the other period, the costume color of the characters in the painting in Figure 6 is more colorful. The costumes of the peddler are light brown, blue, and white, the costumes of child A are blue and pink, the costumes of child B are red, blue, and white, the costumes of child C are brown, pink, and blue, and the costumes of child D are blue and white. It can be inferred from the red Beizi and the yellow pattern on the fabric worn by child B that the painting was painted in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In addition to the red and yellow costume colors suitable for the higher class, blue appears more frequently.

The costume color in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty, which is studied in this work, clearly and intuitively shows the strict hierarchical system. However, due to the economic development, the class costume color regulations formulated by the rulers have been unable to restrict the people. Therefore, the phenomenon of costume color arrogance has proved the pursuit of beauty, the development of social economy, the improvement of dyeing and finishing technology, and textile technology of the common people in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

### 2.3.3. Costume fabric

The figure costume fabric in the painting works is expressed by the painting author with the writing brush. The light and weight, speed thickness, and length of the writing brush will affect the artistic appearance and beauty of the painting.

In the Ming Dynasty, people emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce, and the status of merchants was lower than that of the common people. Therefore, in terms of costume culture, it was stipulated that the common people could wear costume made of silk and yarn fabrics, while merchants were only allowed to use Juan and cloth as costume fabrics [20]. A closer look at the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of

<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>Figure 6. The color of the costume in the painting of the peddler (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>
the Ming Dynasty reveals that the four costumes in the painting, the Beizi and trousers worn by the peddler, the round-necked narrow-sleeved robe worn by Child A, and the Beizi worn by Child C, are all relatively light and soft, the fabric is light, transparent, and decorated with patterns, so it is presumed that the fabric is gauze. The round-necked narrow-sleeved robe of the Ming Dynasty was often made of silk fabric, so the child D's robe should be made of silk. The fabric and lining of Child B's Beizi vary in color and are inferred to be of silk. Through the study of the physical trousers unearthed from the ancient tombs in the corresponding period of the Ming Dynasty, it was found that the trousers of the Ming Dynasty were mostly made of cotton fabric. The belly circumference of the peddler's waist, the trousers worn by child A, the open crotch trousers of child B, the belly circumference and trousers of child C, and the fabric texture of the trousers worn by child D are basically the same, so it is speculated to be cotton.

### 2.3.4. Accessories and children's hair style

The peddler wears a sweat towel on his right shoulder. The sweat towel was popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was usually cut into a rectangle and decorated with tassels on both sides or around. People in the Ming Dynasty often embroidered or painted the sweat towel for decoration. There are a variety of colors, which are quite exquisite. Its purpose is, as its name suggests, often used to wipe sweat or hang it on the waist as accessory, and sometimes it is also sent as a gift [21]. The peddler wears a blue kerchief, his hair is tied under the kerchief, and the kerchief is decorated with two small lotus flowers. The peddler has ornaments hanging from his chest, a bracelet with beads on both wrists, and a purse and small container hanging from his waist.

The Chinese believe that the body's hair and skin are the property of the parents. Every inch of skin and hair of human body are given by parents, hair has a special status in the eyes of ancient Chinese people. Different customs and cultures are embedded in the hairstyles of the characters of different periods. There were many hair styles in ancient China, men and women had their own characteristics. The types of hair styles for men were few and generally simple, such as disheveled hair, hair editing, hair shaving, and long braids. There are a

variety of women's hairstyles, which are constantly changing, such as Jiehuan (结鬟) style, screw style, stackable style, symmetrical style, etc. In this work, we will explain the hairstyles of four children in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty. As shown in Figure 7, the hairstyles of children A, B, and D are almost the same, with a total of more than three tufts of hair on the top of the head, and the rest of the front shaved off to expose the skin on the top of the head. The hairstyles of the three children are different. A pinch on both sides of child A's head and a pinch on the forehead are tied to the head with red ribbons, and the hair is in the shape of $\infty$. The head side of child B faces the audience, although only half of the head is exposed, it can still be inferred that the head has three strands of hair, one on the forehead, and two on the back of the head are tied with red ribbons, which are in shape 0. Child D has three bunches of hair on top of his head, without ribbons. The hairstyle of child C is completely different from that of the other three children. The remaining hair on the front forehead and both sides of the head are removed, and only the back of the head is left for knitting and the hair is long. According to the painting, it can be inferred that the hairstyle of child C should be tied with the help of family members.

Through careful observation of the painting, we can find that three children are wearing jewelry, mainly earrings, bracelets, and collars. Child C is wearing an inverted "Ω" shaped collar on the chest and a cyan ornament on the back. In addition, there is a red crown with inlaid ornaments on his head, which looks like a six-in-one hat. The six-in-one hat, known as the melon skin hat, is one of the people's favorite hat decorations in the Ming Dynasty. It is sewn up with six-petal fabric to decorate the brim of the hat. Six-in-one means unity, peace, and harmony. In Figure 7, the red crown worn by child C is made of a crown beam with a certain width. Because the painting only draws three beams to face the audience, according to the symmetry, we can infer that its shape is consistent with the melon skin cap and should be six beams. The red crown is very similar to the hemp crown in the Central Plains of China today. The beautifully decorated red crown on the head of child C in the painting of the peddler is enough to reflect the noble status of the character and the prominent family. However, the implication of hemp crown, which is used for the headwear of the funeral filial son, is quite different from that of the red crown.

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 7.** The hairstyle of the figures in the painting of the peddler (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>
## 2.4. Pattern making and digital restoration of the figure costume in the painting of the peddler

Before restoring the costumes of the figure of the peddler, we need to use computer-aided technology to make patterns of the costumes. Due to the lack of relevant historical records of the size of the costumes, we choose to analyze the proportion of the costumes in the painting and get the size of the costumes by measuring the costumes of the figure in the painting. In the fifteenth century, the average height of men was 165 cm [22], so we set the height of the Ming Dynasty merchant as 165 cm, and then measured the costume proportion of child B and C in the same proportion. Because the five characters in this painting were, respectively, distributed in the front, middle, and back scenes, we only chose the costume proportion in which the characters in the painting were relatively concentrated for research. After measuring the costume proportion of the peddler and children B and C, we get the following data, as shown in Figure 8. The length of the Beizi worn by the peddler is 50 cm, the belly circumference is 60 cm, and

his trousers is 79 cm. The length of the Beizi worn by child B is 31 cm and the length of his trousers is 32 cm. The length of the Beizi worn by child C is 41.5 cm, his belly circumference is 23.5 cm, and the length of his trousers is 38.5 cm. The size of the figure's costume in the painting can be obtained by the painting scale analysis method. We believe that this method cannot accurately infer the actual size of the costume and can only be restored from the image vision. Therefore, the data derived this time can only be used as a reference and its accuracy is low. Based on the deduced figure costume size, with the help of computer-aided technology, the patterns of the five figures in the painting are drawn, as shown in Figure 9.

After we save the costume pattern made by computer technology in DXF format, we import it into the 3D virtual fitting system. First, let us build a character model, use the point arrangement tool to close the imported garment pattern to the model. After completing the virtual garment stitching, we set the garment fabric, pattern, and color in the physical attribute window in turn. Finally, the final figure costume is obtained

<figure><img src="image_12.png" /><figcaption>Figure 8. The costume proportion in the painting of the peddler (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_13.png" /><figcaption>Figure 9. The costume pattern in the painting of the peddler.</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /><figcaption>Figure 10. The digital restoration process of the figure costume (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>
through adjustment, and the main process is shown in Figure 10. In this system, we should pay attention to avoid the problems of fabric interpenetration caused by the crossing of sewing threads and the number of layers of clothing. In the aspect of fabric, we cannot fully express the reality of the costume fabric of the figure, but can only achieve partial reality on the premise that we understand the visual image of the painting and the costume fabric of the unearthed cultural relics.

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 11.** Digital restoration display of the figure costume in the painting of the peddler (National Palace Museum, Taipei, China).</figcaption></figure>

## 3. Result

In the 3D virtual fitting system, model the characters in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty, import the costume patterns, virtual stitching, set the costume fabrics, colors, and patterns, and finally restore the five characters' costumes in the painting of the peddler. Figure 11 shows the digital restoration of the figure's costume.

## 4. Discussion

As a famous ancient Chinese painting, the painting of the peddler belongs to the material cultural heritage. The extremely busy shopping scene depicted in the painting of the peddler reflects the business model of ancient Chinese peddlers. We can clearly understand the development of ancient China and the types of daily necessities used by the people by observing the goods sold by the peddler. From the painting of the peddler, we can also infer that the ancient Chinese painters are fond of the peddler, which also shows the charm of traditional Chinese folk culture. When studying the costumes in the painting of the peddler, the meanings of the costume patterns are mostly auspicious, safe, and praying for the birth of children. Most of the fabric patterns appear in the costume of the characters. These patterns are often closely related to human life and behavior, which all reflect the yearning of ancient Chinese people for good things and the expectations of parents for their children.

For the costume restoration part, we use 3D digital restoration technology to restore the character costume that conforms to the painting of the peddler, so that the public can feel the scene of the peddler and four children trading goods and playing in a closer distance, and create more opportunities for the audience to understand the ancient Chinese custom painting of the peddler. At the same time, this work measures the figure costume in the painting of the peddler through the costume proportion. In the future, the same method can also be used to measure the size of the figure costume in the ancient murals, ancient paintings, and porcelain, showing the specific operation process of the figure costume restoration in detail. This method can also be applied to the research of the costume restoration in other ancient figure paintings. This study obtains the historical knowledge of the costume of the Ming Dynasty in China through the digital restoration of the costume of the figure of the peddler, which is valuable for the study of ancient Chinese costume.

## 5. Conclusion

This study was mainly focused at the paintings and costumes of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty collected in the Palace Museum. We have recovered the costumes of the figures in five sets of paintings, and draw the following conclusions: (1) The paintings of peddler reflect the superb painting techniques of ancient Chinese painters. The contents of the paintings are mainly the scenes of women buying goods and children playing. These paintings have high religious, artistic,
historical, and folk values. Most of the children in the painting of peddler are boys, which also reflects the feudal thought that men were superior to women in the Ming Dynasty in China. (2) There are three main categories of goods sold in the peddler's burden (box): daily necessities and sundries, vegetables, drinks and fruits, and children's toys. Among them, daily necessities and sundries mainly include fans, campstools, brooms, clay pots, clay bottles, hoes, etc. Vegetables include radish, green vegetables, eggplant, etc. Children's toys are more than the first two categories, mainly including bird cages, various birds, sachets, bamboo flutes, kites, masks, long-handled mallets, etc. (3) The costume structure of the figure in the painting of the peddler in the spring scenery of the Ming Dynasty is made of upper and lower garment system. The upper garment is Beizi and a round-necked narrow-sleeved robe. The lower garment is open crotch trousers and closed crotch trousers, as well as the waist circumference. The shape of the Beizi is a kind of Chinese-style jacket with buttons down the front, there is a fork on both sides of the Beizi, and the height of the fork varies with the age of the wearer. The fork on both sides of adult costume is higher than that of children, and the neckline of children's costume has a small opening range. (4) The figure costume patterns in the painting of the peddler are combined into a unit with different patterns, and then the unit is circularly arranged to obtain the figure costume patterns. The main patterns of costume include Sihe Ruyi pattern, Ganoderma lucidum pattern, peony geometric pattern, flower cloud pattern, septaria, and fire pattern. Sihe Ruyi pattern is composed of diamond pattern, 圈 pattern, copper coin pattern, geometric pattern, and Ruyi pattern. The peony geometric pattern is composed of peony pattern, 圈 pattern, diamond pattern, and geometric pattern. Flower cloud pattern is composed of cloud pattern and flower pattern, and septaria is composed of polygon and circle. The fire pattern is composed of fire patterns and circles arranged into a circle. The cloud pattern is composed of various cirrus patterns. (5) The colors of the characters' costume in the painting of peddler are light brown, green, white, blue, pink, red, and brown.

**Funding information:** The work was financially supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences project of the Ministry of Education, China (No. 22YJAZH064), the Key Research and Development Projects of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology, China (No. 2024GX-YBXM-558).

**Author contributions:** Chun Zhu and Yuanyuan Gao wrote the manuscript. Jianping Wang, Xianyi Zeng, Pascal Bruniaux and Kaixuan LIU developed the research idea. Kaixuan LIU and Jianping Wang revised the manuscript. Chun Zhu and Yuanyuan Gao completed the restoration experiment.

**Conflict of interest:** There are no competing interests to declare.

**Ethical approval:** The conducted research is not related to either human or animal use.

**Data availability statement:** The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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