Cloud-like patterns in fish skin clothing of the Hezhe people (Nanai): origin, compositional features, semantics of images

The article discusses the cloud-like pattern, which is a common motif in the ornamental art of the Hezhe (Nanai) people, whose representatives live in Russia and China. The aim of the study is to identify the origin, varieties, compositional features and plot diversity of cloud-like ornaments on Hezhe clothing made from fish skin. Attention is also paid to the characterization of the symbolic meaning of ornamental images. The main hypothesis was the assumption that the Hezhe borrowed the type of cloud-like pattern from Chinese culture. The study was carried out based on materials from the collections of museums in China and Russia. The author’s field materials, collected during scientific expeditions in the areas of Hezhe residence (Jiejinkou parish in Tongjiang city and Aochi village in Jiamusi city) were also used. A significant proportion of the materials were the results of research by Chinese and Russian scientists. The research methodology includes an integrated approach based on iconographic analysis, which involves considering cloud-like patterns as images from the point of view of construction and image; semiotic analysis, which involves the study of ornaments as symbols; and a sociological approach based on the applied, semantic and aesthetic functions of the ornament. In the course of the study, the author determined the origin of the Nanai cloud-like patterns decorating clothes made from fish skin and analyzed the varieties and features of the ornamental composition and the plot variety variety of patterns. Two sources that predetermined the appearance of the types of ornament under study have been identified: (1) the masters’ imitation of natural (in this case, spiral) forms and (2) reverence for the forces of nature, which was one of the foundations of the ancient worldview. The author believes that the use of cloud-like patterns in the works of the Nanai masters of decorative and applied arts from China and Russia was by no means limited only by their decorative meaning - in the national culture, this type of ornament is perceived as bringing benefits to a person, as connected with natural elements and with divine powers. The author has established that the semantics of the cloud-like pattern among the peoples of China and Russia has one substantive basis, but the implementation of color solutions is characterized by the uniqueness of national characteristics. Cultural concepts and internal semantic content make traditional cloud-like patterns a classic representative ornament, broadcasting traditional national values; the sincere simplicity of these ornaments gives clothes a positively perceived harmony.