A RARE EMBROIDERED DARK BLUE-GROUND OFFICIAL'S FORMAL COURT ROBE, CHAO FU

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

細節

A RARE EMBROIDERED DARK BLUE-GROUND OFFICIAL'S FORMAL COURT ROBE, CHAO FU
THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Worked in couched gold thread and multi-colored satin stitch on the upper half with four five-clawed dragons amidst clouds and Buddhist emblems, above the terrestrial diagram at the waist, the attached pleated, flared apron similarly worked, and incorporating twelve dragon roundels above the hem, joined by a narrow waistband decorated with confronted dragons
54½in. (138.5cm.) long

拍品專文

The chao fu was the most formal of Manchu court garments and was worn at the most important court functions, including the annual sacrifices performed by the emperor himself. This type of formal court robe would have been appropriate for second and third degree princes. A similar gauze example was included in the exhibition, The Manchu Dragon, Costumes of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 1644-1912, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, December 16, 1980-August 30, 1981, illustrated by Jean Mailey in the Catalogue, p. 19. Another example, lacking the roundels on the skirt, is illustrated by John E. Vollmer, In the Presence of the Dragon Throne, Royal Ontario Museum, 1977, p. 39