Page 71 - Bonhams Chiense Paintings New York July 21 2020

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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION A SOUTHERN
GENTLEMAN
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A RARE IMPERIAL MIDNIGHT-BLUE EMBROIDERED YARDAGE During the reign of the Qianlong emperor all members of the Imperial
FOR AN EMPEROR’S SURCOAT, GUNFU hierarchy were required to wear a surcoat over their formal court
18th/early 19th century robes. The prescriptions regarding these surcoats were laid out in the
The rectangular panel stitched together from two lengths of silk, Huangchao liqi tushi (Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia
divided down one half to provide the front opening of the robe, of the Imperial court). The surcoat for the emperor was called a gunfu
embroidered and couched with four front-facing dragon roundels, the and had four roundels with front-facing dragons. Each of the roundels
dragons couched against a ground of dense foliate scrolls bearing over the shoulders bore one of the twelve symbols of Imperial power.
lotus blossoms with scattered peaches over turbulent waters, The sun disc with the three-legged cockerel over the left shoulder, and
enclosed within a border of dense cloud scrolls and bats, the front the moon disc with the hare over the right. In addition, the front and
and rear roundels with a shou medallion couched above the dragons’ back roundels also included a shou (longevity) medallion. An illustration
heads, the left shoulder roundel with the Imperial moon symbol above of the emperor’s gunfu from the Huangchao liqi tushi is reproduced by
the dragon’s head and the right with the Imperial sun symbol, the long Gary Dickinson and Linda Wrigglesworth, Imperial Wardrobe, Berkeley,
edge roughly hemmed, lined in light blue silk. 2000, pl.102, p.122; and a detail of a shoulder roundel from a gunfu is
102 1/4 x 51in (259.7 x 129.5cm) illustrated, ibid, p.103, p.123.

US$25,000 - 35,000 An 18th century gold-couched gunfu is illustrated by Chris Hall, John
E. Vollmer, et. al, Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from
the Chris Hall Collection, Singapore, 2013, no.20, pp.138-139; and a
十八/十九世紀初 御製石青緞繡盤金四團龍皇帝袞服料 Jiaqing period embroidered gauze gunfu was sold at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 6 April 2015, lot 183.

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