CENTRAL ASIA, CIRCA 1900

Details

A METAL-THREAD EMBROIDERED VELVET KHAN'S ROBE
CENTRAL ASIA, CIRCA 1900
The purple coat embroidered with stylised boteh palmettes all over, with gold and silver embroidered collar, ikat lining, old inventory number stamp '11235', old repairs
55in, (140cm.) high

Special notice

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Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam

BAtighiMoghaddam@christies.com 44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

This robe is of typical cut for the Central Asian chapan with tapering sleeves, flaring skirt and slit to each sides. Such tunics were collected and worn as status symbol by men, sometimes one over the other. The shape remained unchanged as can be seen from a 17th century example at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (inv.no.1460) and a gold embroidered 19th century one published in JKalter and Pavloi (eds.), 1997, no.478, p.239.

Our chapan embroidery, which is composed of a large medallion issuing palmettes that dive deep in the back and cover part of the upper shoulders, is similar to an early 19th century example which sold at Christies, South Kensington, 21 April 2016, lot 212.

For another Central Asian robe see the following lot.

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