AN EMBROIDERED BLACK-GROUND SILK JACKET AND SKIRT

PROPERTY OF A CANADIAN COLLECTOR

Details

AN EMBROIDERED BLACK-GROUND SILK JACKET AND SKIRT

Possibly embroidered for the Straits Chinese market, finely and elaborately embroidered partially in padded high relief and almost entirely in gold and silver threads, the silver threads at the borders stitched down with pastel-colored threads creating an opalescent effect, decorated on the jacket with eight, applied roundels enclosing cranes clutching lingzhi in their beaks surrounded by millet, all above a dense border of stylized waves crested with large orange discs, geometric rocks and further flowers, the cuffs of the sleeves and skirt similarly decorated with strands of millet and overlapping wave borders
Jacket 32½in. (82.5cm.) long
Skirt 38¼in. (97.2cm.) long (2)

Provenance

Estate of Ida Jankel

Lot Essay

Ida Jankel was the daughter of Dr. Jankel of Tiensen, China, who was reputedly called to Beijing in 1906 to treat the ailing Empress Cixi

For a man's wedding jacket and robe, embroidered in a similar technique, see the example included in the exhibition, Gilding the Phoenix, The Straits Chinese and Their Jewellery, The National Museum of Singapore, April 5-August 31, 1991, illustrated by Edmond Chin in the Catalogue, p. 144