The red pattern on the ancient women’s forehead was called “Huadian (Chinese: 花钿 ; pinyin: huā diàn)”. Huadian is a special accessory for women’s makeup.
There are three colors: red, green, and yellow, and red is the most popular.
The origin of Huadian can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and was used in the Qin and Han dynasties respectively.
In the Southern dynasty, Princess Shouyang invented plum blossom makeup. In the Tang dynasty, Huadian was revived because of Shangguan Wan’er and reached its peak. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms continued to thrive until the Song and Yuan dynasties.
The Origin of Huadian
According to legend, Princess Shouyang, daughter of Liu Yu, Emperor Wu of Liu Song in the Southern dynasties, was resting outside the Hanzhang Hall one day. The plum tree in front of the hall was blown by the wind, the plum blossoms drifted away and stuck to the princess’s forehead.
The plum blossoms were washed away, but the princess still had a petal mark on her forehead. The palace ladies saw the plum blossom seal set off the charming princess, then followed the example of cutting the plum blossoms and pasting them on the forehead.
But plum blossoms weren’t available all year round, so women came up with the idea to cut the gold foil into petal shapes and stick them on their foreheads or cheeks.
Later, this kind of make-up spread to the people, and they all scrambled to follow it, thus a new kind of make-up was born, which is called “plum blossom makeup”.
With the popularity of plum blossom makeup, the decorative patterns of makeup have also gradually passed from plum blossoms to butterflies, phoenixes, and other various patterns; the makeup part of the forehead, eyebrows, extending to the face, and temples.
Later this type of women’s makeup in flower decoration will have one name, which is called “Huadian”.
Huadian Classic Style
In Huadian’s designs, the ancient women were equally bold in their wisdom and artistic concepts. In different make-up, they use materials such as gold leaf, paper, fish scales, feathers, and gems. Some women even use dragonfly wings to make Huadian.
Huadian colors and styles of ancient artifacts:
(1), (2), (4) from silk paintings unearthed in Turpan, Xinjiang
(3) from wooden figurines unearthed in Turpan, Xinjiang
(5), (6), (7), (8) from the Dunhuang Mogao Cave paintings
(9), (10), (11), (12), (14) from Tang dynasty ancient paintings
(13) from Terracotta figurines from the Tang dynasty unearthed in Xi’an, Shaanxi province
Huahuang (花黄)
Huahuang was inspired by Buddhist statues that women who loved beauty and innovation cut various patterns from gold-colored paper and pasted them on their foreheads, or painted them with yellow powder.
In the Mulan Ci, when Hua Mulan returned from the army, she was changed of her male attire and resumed her female body, there is a poetry description of “face the window tidied the temples, face the mirror paste Huahuang”, the “Huahuang” was the popular makeup at that time.
Cuidian (翠钿)
Cuidian is also one of the artistic values in women’s Huadian makeup.
It was most popular in the late Shu period and was made of emerald bird feathers. The whole Huadian is turquoise, very fresh, and chic.
But later Cuidian mostly affixed a smile swirl at the corner of the mouth to mimic a woman’s dimples, also known as “Mianye (面靥)”.
Gold Huadian (金钿)
Women in the Tang dynasty not only put gold Huadian on their faces, but sometimes they also put it on Chanbin (蝉鬓) and Wubin (乌鬓).
Pearls Huadian
Song Dynasty Empress of Qinzong
In the Song dynasty there was Huadian with pearls.
The Song people advocated the beauty of light and elegance, so the old Huadian style gradually fell out of favor and was replaced by the Huadian decorated with pearls. Pearls Huadian has a three-dimensional effect.
Huadian Artistic Value
Huadian makeup, from the rise of the Southern dynasties, was popular in the Tang dynasty until the Yuan dynasty gradually disappeared from the women’s dressing table.
In modern times, Huadian will not appear on a woman’s face as makeup. However, traditional Huadian patterns still appear in various forms in contemporary wedding accessory designs and even in big shows.
But also, many Hanfu lovers decorate their foreheads with Huadian.
Not only embodying the interests and aesthetic values of Chinese women at different times but also highlighting the wisdom and achievements of Chinese women in art design, enabling contemporary people to draw more creative elements than traditional art forms.
Huadian pattern:
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