AN IMPERIAL DARK-BLUE-GROUND KESI WOMAN'S COURT SURCOAT, GUN FU

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Details

AN IMPERIAL DARK-BLUE-GROUND KESI WOMAN'S COURT SURCOAT, GUN FU
LATE 19TH CENTURY

Woven on the front and back with eight dragon roundels, the gold dragons reserved on a dense, wan-fret ground superimposed with double happiness characters, four of the roundels incorporating four of the twelve symbols of imperial authority, including the white hare, the three-legged cockerel, the mountain, and the constellation, all against a deep blue ground above the multi-colored terrestrial diagram and lishui stripe at the hem--58½in. (148.6cm.) long

Lot Essay

This type of surcoat was worn by an empress or empress dowager over a semi-formal robe. A similar woman's gun fu, also woven with four of the twelve symbols of imperial authority, is illustrated by John E. Vollmer, Decoding Dragons: Status Garments in Ch'ing Dynasty China, University of Oregon Museum of Art, 1983, p. 94, pl. 49. Compare, also, the example included in the exhibition, Dragon Emperor, Treasures from the Forbidden City, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989, illustrated by Dr. Mae Anna Pang in the Catalogue, p. 95, no. 54