Page 170 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NEW ENGLAND COLLECTION
1620
AN IMPERIAL EMBROIDERED 'MIDNIGHT-BLUE' SILK
'DRAGON' SURCOAT, LONGGUA
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
The dark blue silk is finely embroidered with eight roundels of dragons The empress dowager and empress were permitted to wear two types of
chasing flaming pearls amidst clouds, bats, double peaches, composite longgua. The first had eight roundels displaying front-facing long dragons
flower blossoms, and wan emblems, all above the terrestrial diagram on the chest, back and shoulders with profile dragons at the lower front
tossed with Buddhist emblems, the chimes worked in Peking knot. and back of the coat, above wave motifs on the hem and sleeves. Imperial
consorts of the first, second, and third degree were also permitted to wear
54Ω in. (138.4 cm.) long x 56º in. (142.8 cm.) wide
the first type of longgua. An example of this style, with eight roundels of
five-clawed dragons with wave borders at the hem and sleeve edges can
$20,000-30,000
be found on a manuscript of the Huangchao liqi tushi in the collection of
the Victoria & Albert Museum, ink and color on silk, 1736-1795, accession
The present surcoat was likely worn over a longpao, or semi-formal
number 868-1896. The script above the robe states that the robe was
dragon robe, by a high-ranking imperial consort. The Huangchao liqi
made for Imperial concubines of the first rank. The present lot is an
tushi (Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Imperial
example of this type of longgua.
Court) promulgated by the Qianlong Emperor in 1759, specified the styles
of longgua for court women of the highest ranks including the Empress
The second style of longgua had the same organization of dragon roundels
Dowager, the Empress, and imperial consorts of the first, second and
as the first style, but without the wave motif on the hem and sleeves.
third rank. Imperial consorts of the fourth degree and lower were permitted to wear

this type of longgua (without the wave design), but the lower roundels on
清十九世紀初 御製石青地團八龍紋龍褂 their coats were decorated with two-toed gui dragons.