A RARE IMPERIAL EMBROIDERED YELLOW SILK TWELVE-SYMBOL DRAGON ROBE FOR AN EMPRESS, JIFU

EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE IMPERIAL EMBROIDERED YELLOW SILK TWELVE-SYMBOL DRAGON ROBE FOR AN EMPRESS, JIFU
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Worked in satin stitch in shades of blue, green, red and pale violet and couched gold threads on the front and back panels, with nine five-clawed dragons pursuing flaming pearls amidst clusters of clouds interspersed with bats, the eight Buddhist emblems, auspicious motifs and the twelve symbols of imperial authority, all reserved on a rich egg-yolk yellow ground above the terrestial diagram with lishui stripe at the hem, with dark blue-ground cuffs, collar and sleeve bands decorated with further dragons and clouds
56 in. (142.3 cm) long

Lot Essay

This robe is identifiable as a woman's coat by the fact that it has no vent at the front and back and the additional band of ornament at the top of the sleeve extensions. Compare a slightly later example, also a women's robe, included in the exhibition, Secret Splendors of the Chinese Court: Qing Dynasty Costume from the Charlotte Hill Grant Collection, Denver Art Museum, 30 December 1981 - 21 March 1982, pp. 60-1. Compare, also, an empress robe, from the same period, but kesi, and woven with a wan-fret ground, sold in these rooms, 1-2 December 1994, lot 306.

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