Page 129 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

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A BLUE-GROUND SILK EMBROIDERED 清十八 / 十九世紀 藍地繡金龍銅釘儀仗
MILITARY OFFICER’S CEREMONIAL ARMOR 棉甲
QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY
comprising an embroidered silk, brass-studded, waist-length 來源
vest with detachable sleeves and panels, a two-panel Jon Eric Riis，亞特蘭大
wraparound skirt, and a pair of shoulder plates (10)
Height 58 in., 147.3 cm; Length 48 in., 121.9 cm
PROVENANCE
Jon Eric Riis, Atlanta.
Ceremonial armor, worn for official occasions, was an
essential part of court life in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
In fact, the present suit notably retains its protective metal
plates at a time when the outer studs increasingly served
only a decorative purpose. John E. Vollmer in Silks for
Thrones and Altars. Chinese Costumes and Textiles, Paris,
2003, p. 78, notes that armor ‘can be related to the wuxing
(five elements), in which the colors black or dark blue
correspond to the element water and to north’ and that
dragons reflect the imperial iconography, ensuring that each
component embroidered with a dragon amid clouds above
mountains and waves, forms a miniature cosmos, reiterating
imperial might. For related examples, see ibid, pl. 37 and
another example, with helmet, sword and scabbard, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession nos
16.118.29b–i,l,m; 32.75.301; and 36.25.5a,2061).

$ 30,000-50,000

254 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION OF CHINESE TEXTILES 255