Page 40 - Dreweatts May 19, 2015 Chinese and Asian Works of Art, Good section on late Chinese Bronzes

T WELVE SY MBOLS DR A GON R OBES

Imperial dragon robes were primarily worn during festive holidays, banquets, and religious sacrifices, such as the
lunar New Year’s Day, the emperor’s and empress’s birthdays, the winter solstice, lunar New Year’s Eve, the Plowing
Ritual at the Temple of Agriculture, banquets, major weddings, and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
At these many occasions the emperor often wore a dragon robe in conjunction with a ritual robe or by itself. The
colours selected to manufacture dragon robes ranged from bright yellow to apricot yellow, golden yellow, ginger
yellow, light or dark brown, pale or deep purple, sea green, blue, bluish white, peach or rouge red. The colours
varied according to the varying needs of the season or occasions.
The arrangement of the dragons on the dragon robes of the Qing dynasty was based on the expression “The
Majesty of 9-5”, signifying Imperial authority, contained in the Book of Changes. The expression, relating to the
formation of the hexagrams, referred to the number 9 as the whole, unbroken line, and the number 5 as the fifth
line, of the ‘Qian’ hexagram, symbolic of steadfastness, greatness and lack of impediments. Conceived in terms of
the spatial arrangement of the dragons, the 9-5 relation is expressed, on Qing robes, by the occurrence of five
dragons, which are always visible on both sides of the robe.
The two en-face dragons on the shoulders, visible from both the front and back of the robe, can be in fact added
to the three dragons, embroidered on then main section of the robe, totalling nine if examined in conjunction
with the last dragon occurring under the front panel. According to Qing regulations, only the emperor and princes
could wear ceremonial robes ornamented with nine five-clawed dragons, which were sometimes ornamented
with the ‘Twelve Imperial Emblems’. Dragons represented royalty and dominion. Their supernatural powers, such
as the ability to fly high in the sky and dive back in the sea, were in fact equated to those of the emperors.
In China, the use of the Twelve Symbols was always associated with the Emperor. In the third millennium BC,
Emperor Shun said, “I wish to see the emblematic figures of the ancients: the sun, the moon, the stars, the dragon,
and the flowery fowl, which are depicted on the upper garment; the temple-cup, the aquatic grass, the flames, the
grain of rice, the hatchet, and the symbol of distinction, which are embroidered on the lower garment.
He then described these symbols as qualities required for a good ruler. The original meanings of these symbols is
unclear, however, they were considered as sacrificial symbols, worn by the emperor during presenting his people
before the heaven. According to The Book of Documents’, the emblems of the ancients-the sun, the moon, the
stars, mountains, dragons, and pheasants-painted, and the ritual vessels, aquatic grass, flames, rice grains, axes,
and fu, were finely embroidered and displayed in the five colours on garments.’ According to the biography of
Jia Yi (200-168 BCE), in fact, ‘the emblems of the ancients-the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, dragons, and
pheasants-painted, and the ritual vessels, aquatic grass, flames, rice grains, axes, and fu, were finely embroidered
and displayed in the five colours on garments and Emperor and Empress wore such clothes to make sacrifices in
the temples and to fast.” By the Qing period, the Twelve Emblems also embellished the Qing emperors’ formal attire,
and their use became regulated in the Qianlong period (1736-1795), in the The Huangchao liqi tushi, ‘Illustrated
Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Imperial Court’, enforced in 1766. The Rooster, embroidered within
the sun disc, symbolised the emperor, his supremacy, enlightenment, and power; the iconography derived from
the legend of Hou Yi , the divine archer who shot down nine of ten suns in the form of a three-legged raven,
scorching the earth. The Moon disc, another celestial symbol, symbolised the light and wisdom of the emperor,
shining upon the world, as well as the auspicious wish for longevity, enclosing, which in it, the legendary hare
pounding the elixir of immortality in the western paradise of Xiwangmu. The Constellations, deities who influenced
the affairs on earth, were symbolic of the unending source of love and pardon of the emperor; represented by
three linked circles on the chest area of the robe, the constellations may have also been intended to be the
Three Star Gods associated with happiness, employee or salary, and longevity. The Mountain provided the link to
heaven; the Pair of dragons represented wisdom; the Pheasant depicted beauty, good fortune, auspiciousness,
and the cultural accomplishments and literary refinement of the emperor; the Axe head represented the Imperial
power to act decisively. The Fu symbol, represented by two E-shaped signs arranged back to back, stood for the
emperor’s ability to discern right from wrong, good and evil; the Two ritual goblets suggested moral uprightness,
conveyed by one’s respect for their parents; the seaweed of the Acquatic plant symbolised the emperor’s wisdom.
The Tray of grain, probably rice or millet, expressed the prosperity of the state; it was placed in symmetry with Fire,
symbolic of zeal, intellectual brilliance and imperial power. For references see Su Yu (1910), Chunqiu fanlu yizheng
(Evidence on the meaning of the Luxuriant Dews from the Spring ad Autumn Annuals), vol. 6, 7, 8; Qing Gaozong
(1986), Chun huangdi shilu (Imperial veritable records of the Qing emperor Qianlong and empress Chun), Lunar
Tenth Month 1748, vol. 327; Garrett, Valerie (1994), Chinese Clothing: An Illustrated Guide, Oxford.