Page 102 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK

An Imperial Kesi Longgua
John E.Vollmer
For imperial women during the Qing dynasty, the longgua or
dragon jacket/coat, was an integral part of court attire, signaling
status and rank. The longgua was worn over a dragon-patterned
jifu, or auspicious robes, for official, but semi-formal occasions
at court. The jacket obscured everything except for the lower
sleeves and cuffs of the jifu.This present style of longgua featured a ‘retired’ in 1796.The Xiaoshurui empress was the birth mother of
lishui, or standing water, border along the hem which would have
matched an inner robe worn underneath. For the higher-ranking
women there was a second style of longgua decoration identical to
the first but lacked a design of the lishui border. In this instance,
the dragon robe worn under the second style surcoat would not
have included a lishui along the hem.
The Qing imperial wardrobe was codified by an edict of 1759.1
It designated a full-length dark coloured surcoat with eight-
dragon roundels as the garment to celebrate the status of high-
ranking women of the emperor’s household. The five clawed long
dragons and the presence of special symbols of imperial authority
at the shoulders (sun disc with the three-legged cock at the right
shoulder (fig. 1) and moon disc with the rabbit pounding the
elixir of immortality at the left (fig. 2)) would have identified the
wearer of the present coat as one of the highest-ranking women
at the imperial court such as the emperor’s mother, the empress
dowager, or the emperor’s principal consort (the empress).2 As
might be expected, the quality of the silk and metal-wrapped
thread tapestry weave (kesi) of this garment is exceptional. Be-
cause of these factors, it is possible to speculate about the identity an]. Splendours of Royal Costume: Qing Court Attire [Guo cai chao zhang: Qing dai
of its intended wearer.
Stylistically the coat can be dated from the last quarter of the
eighteenth century. At the time when the fabric for the present
garment was commissioned by the Imperial Household Depart-
ment for the palace wardrobe, the principal consorts of the Qian-
long emperor (r. 1736-1795) had passed away, as had Qianlong’s
100
fig. 1
beloved mother, the Xiaoshengxian Empress Dowager who died
in 1777. The consort of the Jiaqing emperor (r. 1796-1820), the
Lady Hitara (1760-1797), would not have been entitled to wear
such a garment until she became the Xiaoshurui empress on the
ascension to the Dragon Throne by her husband when Qianlong
Jiaqing’s son and successor, the Daoguang Emperor (r.1821-1850),
but died barely a year since becoming an empress. However, it is
possible that the garment may have been intended for the Jiaqing
emperor’s second consort Lady Niuhuru (1776-1850) whose el-
evation to the rank of Xiaoherui empress was deferred until 1801
shortly after the death of the retired Qianlong emperor in 1799.
Regardless of the intended wearer of this garment, it is among the
rarest of Qing dynasty garments with only a few surviving exam-
ples remaining in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.3
1 Dickinson, Gary and Linda Wrigglesworth. Imperial Wardrobe. Berkeley, California:
Ten Speed Press, 2000, p. 186-187, pl. 170 (illustration from the Huangchao liqi tushi,
or Regulations for the Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the [Qing] Court, longgua for a
first-rank imperial consort).
2 Yan Yong and Fang Hongjun, The Splendors of Imperial Costume: Qing Court Attire
from the Beijing Palace Museum [Tianchao yiguan: Gugong bowuyuan cang Qingdai
gongting fushi jingpinzhan] Beijing: Palace Museum, 2008, no. 107 (longgua with
four of the symbols of imperial authority dated to the reign of Qianlong).
3 See: Hong Kong Museum of History and the Palace Museum [Gugong bowuyu-
gong ting fu shi], (exhibition catalogue). Xianggang: Kang le ji wen hua shi wu shu,
2013, no. 107, p 130-131 (longgua dated to reign of Kangxi).Palace Museum, Beijing.
Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji 51: Qingdai gongting fushi (The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace 51: Costume and Accessories of Emperors and
Empresses of the Qing Dynasty). Hong Kong: The Commercial Press Ltd., 2005, pl.
76, p. 121 (longgua dated to the reign of Qianlong); pl. 80 , p. 130 (longgua dated to
the reign of Jiaqing); pl. 88, p. 143 (longgua dated to the reign of Guangxu).