Page 96 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN Tibet, which had no indigenous silk industry, looked to China to supply these
luxuries for its aristocracy and high-ranking clergy. Although some silks
1382 were manufactured specifcally for the Tibetan market, many of the textiles
sent to Tibet had originally been produced for the Chinese court, such as the
AN IMPERIAL YELLOW SATIN BROCADE ROBE, CHUBA present robe. They were often drawn from textiles amassed by the imperial
THE BROCADE, 18TH CENTURY household and held in reserve for such purposes. Although highly prized,
garments and furnishing fabrics were often re-cut to ft Tibetan costume
The side-closing chuba was tailored in Tibet from Chinese 18th styles or to serve new functions, which were often at variance with their
century imperial yellow silk brocade, woven in gold and multi- original decorative schemes and symbolic meanings.
colored threads with fve-clawed dragons grasping faming pearls and
superimposed against a background of cloud clusters picked out in The interest in Chinese silk luxuries also traveled beyond Tibet to India. In
various shades of pink, blue, green and ochre, all above the terrestrial the painting by Nainsukh titled Balwant Singh Smoking, Wearing a Chinese
diagram at the hem. The collar and facing are fashioned from waves Robe, c. 1745-50, illustrated by B.N. Goswamy, Nainsukh of Guler, Zurich,
and dragons. 1997, pp. 132-33, Balwant Singh is shown seated on a throne wearing a
Chinese yellow-ground dragon robe. In the painting, the robe appears to be
53º in. (135.2 cm.) long x 68Ω in. (173.9 cm.) wide re-cut to adhere to the common Hindu attire, which included trousers. The
author suggests that this costume was given to Balwant Singh by a trader.
$20,000-30,000 The depiction of a member of the Hindu aristocracy wearing a yellow-ground
Chinese robe shows how highly-prized such robes were outside of China.
PROVENANCE
御製黃地織錦緞彩雲金龍紋藏袍
Acquired in New York, April 2005. 袍料：清十八世紀

Interaction with Tibet, which began in the 10th century, underscores the
complexities of China’s diplomacy and trade. After the collapse of the Tang
dynasty, Tibetans established a rival dynasty, the Xia, which controlled the
Gansu corridor and trade with Central Asia and the West. Although Tibetan
imperial ambitions were crushed by the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, its
leaders continued to enjoy special prominence, due to the strong attachment
of the Mongol court to Tantric Buddhism. In the Ming dynasty, the court
renewed the Yuan practice of bestowing gifts and titles on Tibetan religious
leaders and of sanctioning trade in luxury goods. Religious power politics
involving Tibet and Mongolia lasted into the 17th century and imperial
patronage of Tibetan Buddhism continued throughout the Qing dynasty.

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