Page 98 - important chinese art mar 22 2018

ADORNED FOR COURT: IMPERIAL PHOENIX

CHAOGUAN IN THE QING DYNASTY

PROPERTY FROM THE PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART, MAINE

LOTS 552!555

The Qianlong emperor spared no expense in employing all art Each phoenix in the present set has been masterfully crafted
forms to proclaim his rightful position as the Son of Heaven, in the ancient % ligree technique. A lattice formed of rows upon
and appears to have taken particular delight in the develop- rows of intricately twisted gold wire skilfully simulates the % ne
ment of exquisite court attire for the countless daily rituals and shimmering plumage of the mythological creature. The
and grand ceremonies. Adornments manufactured from the extravagant use of Eastern pearls and dark semi-precious
% nest materials available to the Qing empire were crafted into stone at the top denote the owner of these pieces as an impor-
individual works of art, particularly evident in these exquisite tant imperial concubine.
phoenix % nials produced for chaoguan (court hats) worn by the
empress or high-ranking concubines ( g. 1). Gold and pearl Only one closely related % nial, also set with a semi-precious
stone at the top, appears to have been published, in the
chaoguan are extremely rare and this set, though incomplete,
National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s
appears to be the % rst to appear on the market.
Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Costume Accessories, Taipei, 1986,
The earliest basic rules relating to the Qing imperial wardrobe cat. no. 7, together with a complete summer hat for a % rst-rank
were set in 1636 by the Hong Taiji (r. 1626-1636) emperor, imperial consort, as indicated by the three tiers of phoenix and
father of the Shunzhi emperor (r. 1643-1661). His rules were inclusion of cat’s- eyes stones, cat. no. 2. A related winter chao-
revised and augmented by the Qianlong Emperor in 1759, guan for the empress, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illus-
and revised in 1767, and recorded in the Huangchao liqi tushi trated in Yang Boda, ‘Ancient Chinese Cultures of Gold Jewellery
(‘Illustrated Regulations for the Ceremonial Paraphernalia of and Ornamentation, Arts of Asia, vol. 38, no. 2, pl. 66; and anoth-
the Qing Dynasty’), an eighteen juan monumental manuscript er of this type, but fashioned with silver phoenix encrusted with
that includes thousands of illustrations and lengthy text, scru- pearls, from the Qing Court Collection and still in Beijing, is
pulously recording the ‘proper’ paraphernalia for the emperor published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
and his court. Costume and jewelry are well represented in Museum. Costumes and Accessories of the Qing Court, Hong
this manuscript for both men and women, starting with the Kong, 2005, pl. 164. A related gold and pearl hat ornament, in
emperor down through all the ranks of the imperial clan and the Yurinkan Museum, Kyoto, is published in Yurinkan Seika,
the whole of the court and civil service. Kyoto, 2003, pl. 75; two examples, one in the form of a male
phoenix (feng) and the other a female phoenix (huang), from
Signi% cantly, the Huangchao liqi tushi always began its sections
the Carl Kempe collection, included in the Exhibition of Chinese
with a description of the court hat, designating its indispens-
Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat. nos 708 and
able and foremost place of importance within the overall court 55, were sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 11th April 2008, lots
attire. At the beginning of the Qing dynasty di$ erent chaoguan
2304 and 2309 respectively. Another, but missing the pearls,
were worn in winter and summer, but by the reign of the Kangxi
from the collections of Jay Le$ and Lillian Schloss, and now in
emperor (r. 1662-1722) the winter style was adopted for use
the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, was sold twice in these rooms,
throughout the year. Hats of this type were similar in shape to 25th October 1975, lot 96, and 9th December 1987, lot 10, and
the men’s winter hat, with a fur brim and crown covered in red
published in Pierre Uldry, Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich,
! oss silk tassels, but with an additional back ! ap made of fur.
1994, pl. 318.
For summer, the hat brim and back ! ap were faced with black
satin or velvet. As ordained by the regulations, the % nials of Ornaments in the form of a ! ying phoenix were popular from
the empress, empress dowager and % rst rank imperial consort the Tang dynasty (618-907) as the bird is symbolic of the
were composed of three tiers of golden phoenix and pearls sur- empress and comprises one of the Four Divine Animals, along
rounded by seven elaborately ornamented gold phoenix, while with the dragon, tiger and turtle. Its % ve-colored tail symbolizes
lesser-ranking imperial concubines wore two tiers of phoenix the % ve cardinal virtues of benevolence, righteousness, sincer-
with % ve additional phoenix (see Valery Garrett, Chinese Dress ity, knowledge and propriety. For an ornament attributed to
from the Qing Dynasty to the Present, Singapore, 2008, p. 57). the Tang dynasty, see one from the Pillsbury Collection in the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, included in the exhibition Arts of
The Huangchao liqi tushi also notes the principal position of
the Tang, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, 1957, cat.
importance of Eastern pearls. Harvested from the three main
no. 299; and a hair accessory in the form of a female phoenix,
rivers in Manchuria, the Yalu, Sungari and Amur, they were
illustrated in Zhang Linsheng, ‘Zhongguo gudai de jingjin gon-
treasured by the Manchu rulers for their association with their gyi’, The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, no.
homeland. Rules also speci% ed that only the emperor and his
14, 1984, p. 25, % g. 26, together with a painting depicting Tang
family members were allowed to wear this precious pearl that
court ladies wearing phoenix ornaments in their hair, % g. 26.
was incorporated into accessories or sewn into imperial robes.

96 SOTHEBY’S