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A RARE FINELY EMBROIDERED IMPERIAL CHESTNUT GAUZE 'DRAGON' ROBE, JIFU
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A RARE FINELY EMBROIDERED IMPERIAL CHESTNUT GAUZE 'DRAGON' ROBE, JIFU
Estimate
(Set Currency)
    HK$600,000 - HK$800,000
  • ($77,654 - $103,539)

Sale Information

Sale 2811
The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
31 May 2010
Hong Kong Buy Catalog





Lot Description

A RARE FINELY EMBROIDERED IMPERIAL CHESTNUT GAUZE 'DRAGON' ROBE, JIFU
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

The pale cocoa ground worked in counted stitch and couched gold threads with the nine prescribed five-clawed dragons on the front and back panels, and one on the underflap, the dragons chasing 'flaming pearls' amidst a ground of multi-colored cloud swirls interspersed with flower sprays and bats suspending beribboned wan emblems, all above a turbulent and finely drawn wave border from which issue further ruyi-form cloud clusters and craggy rocks, as well as double-sprays of peony and gnarled peach-laden branches, with matching midnight blue-ground borders at the collar and cuffs further embellished with striding dragons and other related motifs, the sleeve extensions of matching pale chestnut gauze, with gold buttons
54 3/4 in. (139.1 cm.) long x 81.5 in. (207 cm.) across


清乾隆 醬色地納紗繡緞萬壽萬福金蟒紋吉服袍

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Provenance

An Australian private collection
Linda Wrigglesworth

Lot Notes

The fabric colour of this robe was intended as jinhuang, or golden yellow, which was reserved for the sons of the emperor and their wives. Second and third degree concubines in the imperial harem also wore jinhuang robes.

This elegantly drawn design features the turbulent waves of the Eastern Sea crashing against layered rocks and cliffs. Bats hovering above the billows and peach trees growing from cliffs convey the birthday greeting: 'May your blessings be as deep as the Eastern Sea; and may you live to be as old as the Southern Mountain'. This wish is reinforced by the inclusion of sprays of marigold rising from the rocks below the profile dragons on the skirts. This exotic late-sixteenth or seventeenth century import from Mexico was admired for its bright yellow or orange blossoms that were reminiscent of the emperor's restricted colour. Its name, wanshouju, literally, 'chrysanthemum of ten thousand longevities', was often used as a pun to wish the emperor a long life.

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