Page 172 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC
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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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