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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CALIFORNIA COLLECTION
1622
A YELLOW-GROUND KESI TIBETAN ARISTOCRATIC
CEREMONIAL COAT
THE KESI, DAOGUANG PERIOD (1821-1850)
The front-opening coat was tailored in Tibet from a yellow-ground
kesi 'dragon' robe, worked with dragons clutching and chasing flaming
pearls on a dense ground of multicolored clouds and bats, interspersed
with different renditions of shou characters, above rolling waves and
the terrestrial diagram and lishui stripe at the hem, with original pale
yellow silk lining.
53Ω in. (135.8 cm.) long x 79æ (179.8 cm.) wide
$25,000-35,000
黃地緙絲龍紋藏式袍 緙絲料:清道光
Traditionally, ceremonial costumes donned by members of Tibet’s imperial fabrics with yellow grounds. Two can be directly
aristocratic families for Losar, the Tibetan New Year, were presentations tied to specific Qing-dynasty emperors. A coat in the Edrina
of status through the display of prestigious and rare textiles and with Collection in Sydney, Australia is made from a silk satin
sumptuous displays of accessories and jewelry. Secular attire for the damask, patterned with supplemental wefts of colored floss
second day of the festivities was known as gyaluche, or royal dress. It was silk and two types of gold-wrapped threads made for an
worn only on King’s Day, when government officials make offerings to the emperor’s chaopao, or sacrificial robe, dating to the Kangxi
1
Dalai Lama, imitating the ancient custom from the time of the Tibetan period (1662-1722). A second coat, in the Newark Museum,
kings, when nobles offered tribute to the ruler and gifts would be given to said to have been worn by an Abbot at Ngor Monastery, in
the people. southern Tibet, is constructed from a heavy silk satin brocade
with a design featuring roundels with one of four auspicious
Gyaluche was markedly different from regular wrapped robes held with animals. 2
sashes. The costume consisted of a front-opening, short jacket, which
was worn open over a pleated skirt and with a special rolled shawl draped John E. Vollmer, New York
diagonally across the chest. These garments were said to represent the
costume of the ancient Tibetan kings. Many of these garments were
made of imported luxurious Chinese silks bestowed as gifts or acquired
1 Zong Fengying and Peter Y. K. Lam, Heavenly Splendour: The
through trade. Some of these garments, although made of centuries-old
silks, remain in pristine condition since they were brought out only for a Edrina Collection of Ming and Qing Imperial Costumes (Chao tian
single day and carefully stored for the rest of the year. jin xiu:sheng wen ge zang ming qing gong ting fu shi) Art Museum,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. See also: Christie’s New
The present garment was restyled from a Chinese Daoguang-period York, The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles
(1821-1850) imperial robe made of tapestry-woven silk patterned with from the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection, Wednesday 19 March 2008,
colored silk and gold-wrapped threads on a yellow ground with painted lot 37 (“a very rare imperial yellow satin brocade Tibetan chuba made
details. The Tibetan tailor altered the Chinese garment by removing the from the yardage of an emperor’s chaopao, fabric dating from the
panel under the front overlap and unstitching the center front seam to early 18th century”) pp. 70-71.
create a center-front opening, which is now held closed with a pair of
2 Valrae Reynolds, From the Sacred Realm: Treasures of Tibetan Art
red, figured satin ties. The inner panel was reconfigured to lengthen the
sleeves and to create a yoke-like piece with a short collar to fill in the area from the Newark Museum, Munich: Prestel, 1999, pl. 84, pp.159 and
around the neck that would originally have been undecorated as it would 129-130. The coat, identified as a monk official’s riding coat, is the gift
have been covered by separately woven facing. A section at the waist was of Judith and Gerson Leiber, 83.372.
removed to create a shorter, mid-calf-length garment.
Overcoats opening with one pair of ties at the chest are rare. Only two
other similarly styled garments have been identified in the published
literature. They, and this example, are made of highly prestigious Chinese
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