Page 354 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 London

Court dress during the Qing dynasty was highly The next group is:
proscribed and ritualised according to the occasion
and the status of the wear; such systematisation
gave a sense of harmony and propriety to court
proceedings, unifying the numerous family members
and court officials to focus on the figure of the
emperor himself.
Different levels of formality were expected for
different occasions, the most basic distinction being
official court dress, chaofu, for solemn ceremonial
occasions such as seasonal sacrifices. Festive
robes, jifu, such as the present lot, were less
formal and were worn on happy occasions such as
birthday celebrations or other banquets. Regular
dress, changfu, would be worn in the course of
official public duties for which court or festive robes included in this group.
would have been inappropriate, such as marking
the anniversaries of deaths of past emperors; this is
in contrast to informal dress which would not have
been worn for any official duty.
The status of the wearer was most conspicuously
indicated by colour, with bright yellow reserved for
the emperor, apricot yellow for the heir apparent
and blue, dark blue or golden yellow for princes of
the first or second ranks. The dress of the female
members of the Imperial court mostly reflected the
rank of the husband.
Decoration was the next most significant marker,
and the most sacred was the ‘Twelve Symbols
of Imperial Authority’. These small motifs were
embroidered on the robe in concentric rings at
shoulder, waist and knee height, and can be divided
into various groups.
The first group of symbols is:
1. 日 (ri) the sun (containing a three-legged bird)
2. 月 (yue) the moon (containing a rabbit pounding
the elixir)
3. 星晨 (xingchen) the constellation
4. 山 (shan) the mountain
Together these symbols represent the four most
solemn ceremonies over which the Emperor
presided throughout the year, at the Altars of the
Temples of Heaven, Earth, the Sun and the Moon.
The next group of symbols is:
5. 龍 (long) the dragon
6. 花蟲 (huachong) the flowery bird (or pheasant)
These represent things on earth, and can
sometimes be grouped with the mountain (no.4.
above) to contrast with nos 1, 2 and 3 which relate
to heavenly bodies.
350 | Bonhams
7. 黼 (fu) the axe head
8. 黻 (fu) the confronted ji character
9. 宗彞 (zongyi) the sacrificial vessels
which were used for ancestor worship; the first two
can also represent the Emperor’s ability to to make
decisions, including judgment and punishment, and
the sacrificial vessels can represent the element
metal.
The final group of objects is:
10. 藻 (zao) the waterweed
11. 火 (huo) the flame
12. 粉米 (fenmi) the bowl of grain.
which together represent three of the Five Elements.
The sacrificial vessels (no.9 above) could also be
These symbols had ancient roots, with the number
twelve being described by the Book of Rites (Liji)
as ‘the number of Heaven’. The Book of History
(Shujing) suggests that the Twelve Symbols may
even have existed as early as the Western Zhou
Dynasty (1027-771 BC). However, S.Camman, in
China’s Dragon Robes, Chicago, 2001, p.85 states
that ‘we can be sure that they appeared on the
Imperial sacrificial robes in the Han Dynasty, and
they were used by all the native Chinese dynasties
thereafter’. Significantly, the ethnically distinct
Manchu Qing dynasty also chose to preserve such
Ming and earlier customs to reinforce a sense of
continuity within the empire. The dress code was
constantly being refined, and it was during the
Qianlong period that the use of the Twelve Symbols
was restricted to the emperor, under the Huangchao
liqi tushi, ‘Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual
Paraphernalia of the Imperial Court’, enforced in
1766. This close control over the use of the Twelve
Symbols makes the survival of such a robe of rare
and important significance.
Compare a related yellow-ground court robe with
the Twelve Symbols included in the exhibition
Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City, and
illustrated by M.Wilson, Catalogue, London, 2010,
p.18-19, and another festive robe illustrated ibid.,
no.19. Another example of a ‘Twelve-Symbol’ robe
is illustrated by G.Dickinson and L.Wrigglesworth,
Imperial Wardrobe, London, 1990, pl.23.
See also an Imperial ‘Twelve-Symbol’ robe, dated
to the Daoguang period and embroidered with seed
pearls but with dark blue forearms rather than the
yellow ribbed sleeves on the present lot, which was
sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 3198.