Page 115 - Bonhams FINE CHINESE ART London November 2 2021

291
A FINE UNCUT BURGUNDY-GROUND
EMBROIDERED SILK ‘DRAGON’ ROBE
Circa 1860-1880
A complete bolt meticulously worked in bright silk
satin stitch and couched gold threads with nine
writhing, five-clawed dragons pursuing flaming
pearls amidst dense trailing scrolls of wispy
clouds interspersed with bats holding auspicious
peaches, Shou characters and the Eight Daoist
Emblems surrounding a basket with auspicious
offerings, all above the terrestrial diagram and
lishui stripe at the hem and billowing waves
encrusted with auspicious objects of good
fortune and long life picked out in vibrant shades
of blue, coral, aubergine and green and gold
thread, reserved on a rich burgundy ground, one
end with a sixteen-character inscription, reading:
‘Made by Jiang Guangchang Silk Workshop,
Hangzhou, Zhejiang’.
299cm (117 6/8in) long x 155cm (61in) wide.
£6,000 - 8,000
CNY53,000 - 71,000
約1860-1880 絳紅地繡彩雲金龍壽字紋袍料
「浙杭蔣廣昌 內局本機...」楷書織款
Provenance: Linda Wrigglesworth, London,
early 1980’s.
來源：倫敦Linda Wrigglesworth，二十世紀八
十年代早期
Superbly embroidered with nine lively five-clawed
dragons, finely worked in metallic gold and
silver threads amidst trailing clouds interspersed
with bats, Shou characters and auspicious
offerings, the present robe would have been
made for a high-ranking female member of the
Qing Imperial family. According to the ‘Illustrated
Regulations for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the
Imperial Court’Huangchao liqi tushi 皇朝禮
器圖式, edited in 1759, the burgundy colour,
qiuxiangse, a variation of brown and purple
developed during the late Qing period, was one
of the five shades of yellow which could only
be worn by the members of the Imperial family,
other than the Emperor and Empress dowager
who wore bright yellow minghuang, the heir
apparent and his consort who wore apricot
yellow xinghuang, and the Emperor’s other sons
who wore golden yellow jinhuang; see J.Vollmer,
Ruling from the Dragon Throne: Costumes of
the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Berlekey, CA,
2002, pp.85. The right to wear such garments
depended on rank and status. ‘Dragon’ robes
were characterised by distinct features which
emphasised the sumptuous fabrics and brilliant
embroideries, such as the loop and toggle button
fastenings, the curved front overlap closing to the
right, the long tapered sleeves with extensions
of contrasting fabric, the flaring horse hoof
cuffs, the deep vents front and back for men
and at the sides for women that imitated horse-
riding garments; see J.Vollmer, ibid., pp.94-96.
Compare with a related embroidered burgundy-
ground silk woman’s ‘dragon’ robe, circa 1880,
illustrated by P.Haig and M.Shelton, Threads of
Gold. Chinese Textiles. Ming to Ch’ing, Atglen, (detail)
PA, 2006, pp.50-51.
For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE CHINESE ART | 113