Page 316 - Chinese Works of Art Chritie's Mar. 22-23 2018

PROPERTY FROM THE FAMILY COLLECTION OF GENERAL JOSEPH W. STILWELL
979
AN IMPERIAL MIDNIGHT-BLUE GAUZE WOMAN’S SURCOAT,
LONGGUA
JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)
The midnight-blue gauze robe is woven with eight integral dragon roundels
displaying fve-clawed dragons clutching and chasing faming pearls against
a ground of dense ruyi-form clouds. The roundels at the shoulders bear two of
the Twelve Symbols of Imperial Authority, the sun on the right and the moon
on the left, and the hem is decorated with auspicious symbols rising from the
roiling waves and lishui border.
53 x 68Ω in. (134.6 x 173.9 cm.)
$60,000-80,000

PROVENANCE
The Collection of General Joseph W. Stilwell (1883-1946), acquired in the early
twentieth century, and thence by descent within the family.
Imperial noblewomen wore surcoats called longgua or ‘dragon coats’ with
semi-formal court dress. Eighteenth century sumptuary laws specifed two
distinct styles. The frst was decorated on the body with eight roundels
and a rainbow-striped hem. A second style was decorated with up to eight
roundels, but had no striped hem. The primary means of identifying the
wearer’s rank were the number and portrayal of the dragons; front-facing
being superior to profle dragons. The frst style was restricted to the
empress and imperial consorts of the highest ranks. Imperial consorts of
the fourth and lowest rank had front-facing dragons on the upper body but
highly conventionalized kui dragons in the lower four roundels, and were not
permitted to have the striped hem.
清嘉慶 御製石青紗繡八團龍褂

(detail)

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