Page 84 - Chinese Works of Art Christies South Kensington Nov. 2015

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION
(LOTS 638-643 INCLUSIVE)

歐洲私人珍藏， 一對曾於某國際運輸公司工作過的歐洲夫婦於1930年代購自亞洲
（拍品第638至643號）

638 Due to having fewer oficial functions in the Qing imperial court, women’s
court costume is rarer than examples of men’s formal court dress. A chaopao,
A BROWN-GROUND IMPERIAL NOBLEWOMAN’S KESI FORMAL which was worn with a piling cape, was one of three items in a woman’s
ROBE FOR A CONSORT OF A FIRST OR SECOND RANK PRINCE, chaofu, the remainder being a chaogua and a pleated underskirt.
CHAOPAO
CIRCA 1900 The construction of a chaopao difers from that of a dragon robe, jifu, due to
its separately-cut sleeves, which were inset into the body at the shoulders of
約1900年 醬地緙絲雲龍八吉祥紋朝袍 the robe and covered by epaulettes. Additional bands were also inserted into
the sleeves.
The robe is fnely woven with nine gilt fve-clawed dragons with faming pearls
all amongst dense ruyi-shaped clouds. The brown ground is interspersed Early chaopao were not decorated with lishui wave stripes, it was not until the
with bats, Buddhist Emblems and shou characters, all above lishui waves. The later part of the Qing dynasty when this motif appeared, as is present on the
epaulettes and cufs are similarly decorated on a midnight-blue ground. current example.

£15,000-25,000 $23,000-38,000
€21,000-34,000

PROVENANCE:

Acquired in the early 1930s in Asia by a European couple working for an
international shipping company.

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