LAST QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

Although the purpose of this uniform was purely ceremonial, its construction is based on armour used for protection in battle. The legs were covered with aprons for protection, but the seat was left free to allow the wearer to mount a horse. The front square panel here is made of silk, but this would have been made of metal for actual combat. An example closest to the present lot can be seen in the detail of a handscroll by the court painter Jia Quan, dated to 1776 by an Imperial preface, illustrating a portrait of general Mingliang in similar blue silk armor, illustrated in Meisterwerke aus China, Korea and Japan, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln, Munich/New York, 1995, p. 105. An example of ceremonial armor in the Victoria and Albert Museum is illustrated by G. Dickinson and L. Wrigglesworth, Imperial Wardrobe, London, 1990, pl. 16; and others were included in the exhibition, China - The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 12 November 2005 - 17 April 2006, illustrated in the catalogue, pp. 156-7.