Page 126 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

An Autumn InCense Color Jifu

WIth EmbroIdered DrAgon Roundels

his outstanding imperial man’s semiformal dragon robe (longpao robes dating from the reign of the Shunzhi emperor (順治 r. 1643-1661). Three
龍袍) features eight visible dragon roundels, and another under the robes in the Palace Museum collection attributed to this reign are decorated
T front overlap, on a silk satin feld and a standing water and wave with dragon roundels in supplemental weft patterns in colored foss silk and
border (lishui 立水) at the hem. The garment is complete as initially tailored, gold threads: two on yellow silk grounds, either damask or gauze, and one on
retaining its original light blue small-scale wan fret with blossoms, silk dark blue silk gauze. 4
damask lining and silk and gold-wrapped thread lampas bindings at the neck
and cufs. It refects the culmination of the initial phase in the development Dragon roundel patterns for imperial robes have a long history and had been
of Qing dynasty court dress, particularly for the class of festive wear (jifu 吉 used in China since the Tang dynasty (618-907). During the Ming dynasty
服). It is a scarce survivor of a rarely studied development in Qing court attire (1388-1644), roundel decorated robes were ranked as formal wear and
that was all but obliterated by major shifts in the oficial dress code initiated conferred higher status than yoke-and-band dragon patterns. We may never
under the Qianlong emperor in the late 1740s and promulgated in the 1760s. be able to determine exactly how or when this dragon pattern style was
incorporated into Qing court dress, but it was considered a less formal style
A nearly identical jifu with embroidered dragon roundels on a much- than patterns used for the formal robes (chaopao 朝袍), worn for state ritual.
faded greenish yellow silk satin is in the collection of the Danish National The arrangement of dragon patterns on Qing chaopao had been directly
Museum. (Fig. 1) It was acquired in China in 1893 by the Danish merchant infuenced by the specifc type of dragon-patterned silks sent as diplomatic
Peter Arnt Kierulf (1838-1909), the frst Westerner to open a commercial gifts from Ming emperors to Manchu tribal leaders beginning during the late
establishment in Beijing (1859-1894), and donated to the museum together sixteenth century. These gift yardages featured patterns of dragons amid
with his large collection of Chinese material. Unfortunately there is no clouds above waves and mountains. They were arranged in a quatrefoil yoke
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additional information about this garment or its history. It and the present at the shoulders and a band of across the skirt approximately at knee level
jifu reveal the same exacting technique and attention to detail in embroidery and were adjusted to ft the shapes of Manchu national dress. Hence, early
that we associate with textile production created for the court of the Qing dynasty practice essentially reversed the Ming dynasty ranking system
Yongzheng emperor (雍正 r. 1722-1735). Embroiderers have used several for dragon robe patterns.
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shades of the same color foss silk worked in satin stitch to suggest contour
and dimension. Very thin gold-wrapped threads have been couched with Other than applying the roundels to a Manchu-shaped robe, the single Qing
precision to form the scaled dragons and the lucky symbols foating in the period modifcation of the historic roundel pattern style was the addition
waves. The same thin metal threads have been used lavishly to outline the of a lishui standing water and wave border along the hem with mountain
rocks and spume of the breaking waves as well as the interior contours of the peaks rising at the center front and back and at each side seam. A brownish
billows. Dragon claws and horns and their serrated spines are worked in tiny yellow fgured gauze jifu in the Palace Museum that is documented as having
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knot stitches, outlined with various colored silk plied cords. Minute dots of been worn by the Kangxi emperor (康熙 r. 1661-1722) is among the earliest
green or brown pigment depict lichens on the rocks. Qing examples of eight dragon roundel jifu with a lishui border. The dragon
roundels are embroidered in gold- and silver-wrapped threads set on a silk
The forerunners of what became dragon roundel jifu, appear to be the ground patterned with clouds above a standing water and wave border.
functional Manchu utilitarian coats with tapered sleeves, a front overlap
and a fared shape that widened at the hem, as illustrated by the yellow silk During the early Qing period eight-dragon roundel jifu were worn by both
damask robe in the Palace Museum, Beijing attributed to the reign of Abahai genders. A pair of posthumous portraits in the Arthur M. Sackler Galley
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(Huangtaiji 皇太極 r. 1626-1643). Dragon roundel decoration appears on Collections reportedly depicts Cuyeng (褚英 1580-1615) and his wife. (Fig. 2)
Cuyeng was the eldest son of Nurhaci (努爾哈赤 r. 1559-1626), the founder
of the Qing dynasty. Although the paintings were created possibly more
than two centuries after Cuyeng’s death, nonetheless the artist has opted
to present the couple in court clothes in styles that also predated the date
of the painting’s execution. The prince’s jifu, as well as that worn under the
dragon roundel patterned overcoat of his wife, follow the early Qing eight
roundel above a lishui border convention. Although the color of ground fabric
of the woman’s jifu reads chestnut brown, it should be understood as the
special shade of yellow known as “autumn incense color” (qiu xiangse 秋香色)
and is meant to emulate the distinctive yellow green of the silk satin ground
of the jifu in this sale.
According to Qing court dress regulations issued in 1694, for important
ceremonies or sacrifcial activities, the emperor should wear a crown set with
large-sized pearls or the pearls that come from Northeastern region; and
the ceremonial robe should be made of yellow or autumn incense colored
damask, with patterns of three-claw or fve-claw dragons. The ceremonial
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Fig. 1 An embroidered silk dress of the empress and empress dowager should be made of similarly
satin longpao acquired 8
in China in 1893 by the colored damask with patterns of three-claw or fve claw dragons. The
Danish merchant Peter regulations, further note that yellow or autumn incense color are not allowed
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Arnt Kierulf (1838- to be used for the robes of imperial noble consorts. Interestingly, the
1909), L: 56 1/4 in. (143 dyestuf used to produce the bright yellow and autumn incense color comes
cm.), Danish National
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Museum, accession from the same source (pagoda bud, Styphnolobium japonicum L.). The
number: Bd207, precise shade of the dye was determined by the mordant, which sets the dye
unpublished. © National to make it colorfast: alum for bright yellow or ferrous (iron) sulphate for green
Museum of Denmark.
Photographer unknown. or in combination to produce incense color. The color is again included in a
list of forbidden colors for the dress of oficials and military personnel as per
a regulation issued in 1724. 11
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