Page 144 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

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A RARE CHESTNUT-GROUND EMBROIDERED SILK ‘DRAGON’ Brilliantly embroidered in fine counted stitch with nine resplendent five-
ROBE, JIFU clawed dragons worked in metallic gold thread and interspersed with
Qianlong bats, trailing clouds, auspicious emblems and blossoming flowers,
The vibrant chestnut ground worked in counted stitch and couched the present robe is a spectacular testament to the highest standards
gold threads with nine five-clawed dragons pursuing flaming pearls on achieved in silk embroidery by the Imperial Workshops during the 18th
the front and back panels, the shoulders and the underflap, all on a century.
ground of multi-coloured trialling clouds interspersed with a profusion
of floral sprays and the Daoist Emblems, all above a finely-drawn Brown-ground jifu robes are among the rarest surviving examples of
border of turbulent waves tossed with further vaporous clouds and Imperial garments made during the Qing dynasty. The present robe
craggy rocks issuing lingzhi fungi, narcissi and peach-laden branches, would have been worn by one of the highest-ranking member of the
the matching blue-ground borders at the collar and cuffs embellished Imperial family of Princely rank, on the occasion of a felicitous event.
with striding dragons and other related designs, light blue silk lining.
215cm wide (84 5/8in) x 133cm (52 3/8in) long. Since the earliest times in China, dragons were regarded as
intermediaries between Heaven and Earth and empowered with
£15,000 - 20,000 extraordinary abilities that compared with those of the emperors. In
CNY120,000 - 160,000 addition, the chestnut colour, referred to in Chinese as jiang, written in
two characters interchangeably meaning either ‘dark red’ or ‘sauce’,
清乾隆 香色地繡金龍紋吉服袍 was referred to in the ‘Illustrated catalogue of all the Ceremonial
Trappings of the Imperial Court’ Huangchao Liqi Tushi, edited in
1759, as one of the ‘Five Imperial Yellows’ that could be worn by the
Provenance: an English private collection emperor’s sons and first rank’s princes but also the emperors when
visiting their mothers or retiring in their private quarters; see M.Medley,
來源：英國私人收藏 The Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Ch’ing
Dynasty, London, 1982; L.Wrigglesworth, Imperial Wardrobe, Berkeley,
2002, pp.14-30.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
142 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.