Page 98 - Bonhams, FIne Chinese Art, Linda Wrigglesworth Collection, May 13, 2021 London

83
A VERY RARE IMPERIAL YELLOW SATIN EMBROIDERED
CHUBA
The silk Yongzheng
The side-closing chuba tailored in Tibet from Chinese 18th century
Imperial yellow silk brocade, finely worked in gold and multi-coloured
threads with five-clawed dragons grasping flaming pearls within a
background of wispy clouds picked out in various colours of pink,
blue, green and ochre, all above the terrestrial diagram and lishui stripe
at the hem, the collar and facing fashioned from waves taken from the
original border, with pale blue silk lining.
180cm (71in) wide x 142cm (56in) long.
£20,000 - 30,000
CNY180,000 - 270,000
清雍正 御製黃地織錦緞彩雲金龍紋藏袍袍料

Provenance: Linda Wrigglesworth, London, 2006
A distinguished French private collection

(another view) 來源：倫敦Linda Wrigglesworth，2006年
法國傑出私人收藏

Finely tailored from sumptuous Imperial yellow-ground embroidered During the eighteenth century, the Qing court produced richly-
silk, the present garment is a brilliant and ingenious adaptation of 18th decorated silk costumes specifically for use in Buddhist rituals and
century Chinese court costume to formal Tibetan ceremonial attire. bestowed large quantities of Imperial dragon robes that became
Whilst the rather elaborate medallion on the inner flap of the robe, the customary formal dress for aristocratic Tibetans. At the time,
a feature rarely encountered on this type of garment, would have regulations governed the quantity of yellow silks destined for religious
been originally intended to make up a cushion cover for a throne, leaders. In 1655, shortly after a visit by the Fifth Dalai Lama to Beijing,
the rest of the embroidery would have made up a dragon robe worn it was decreed that only high lamas with the title Gelung were allowed
by one of the innermost members of the Qing court. This is evident to receive yellow silks. This honour was regularly accorded to the Dalai
in the neck area, which suggests that a separate embroidered collar and Panchen Lamas and the Grand Lama of Urga, the head of the
and lapel were once applied and then removed to obtain a simpler Mongolian Buddhist hierarchy; see E.Sperling, ‘The Fifth Karma-pa
Tibetan-style closure. and Some aspects of the Relationship between Tibet and Early Ming’,
in M.Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi, Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh
According to Linda Wrigglesworth, the lack of the gold thread, which Richardson, Proceedings of the International Seminar on Tibetan
would have typically outlined the water and waves, was a feature Studies, Oxford, 1979, pp.280-289.
typically encountered on robes tailored for female members of the
court and indeed suggest that the dragon robe incorporated in the The Tibetans traditionally wore robes featuring very long sleeves
present chuba was originally destined for an Imperial consort. This characterised by wider cuts and a simpler style of front overlap
assumption is reinforced by the counter-clockwise coiling posture and fastening. The front part of the garment slanted from the
of the dragons to the chest area and back, which suggests that the neck to a fastening under the right arm. Sometimes the narrower
wearer stood to the right of the emperor. It was normal practice for Chinese robes were widened at the sides for easier movement and
Imperial consorts to stand on either side of the emperor, who took the lengthened by the addition of material around the waist, which was
central position in a formal ceremony. It would make sense, therefore, concealed by the sash worn over the robe. These alterations were
for an Imperial consort to wear a robe whose dragons coiled towards achieved by the Tibetans tailors by substituting the front underlap of
the Imperial throne. See for example the painting depicting the the garment with another material, or by cutting off some of the deep
Dowager empress Chongqing, mother of the Qianlong emperor, as wave border to extend the arms or widen the sleeves. The overall
she sits at a banquet table on a raised platform. Sitting to her left is her result conveyed a rather harmonious and eccentric effect obtained by
son, the Qianlong emperor, and further to the sides, her son’s many combining different materials.
consorts; see J.Stuart and Daisy Yiyou Wang, Empresses of China’s
Forbidden City 1644-1912, Salem, 2018, p.155, pl.7. For a discussion about ‘dragon’ robes tailored as Tibetan chuba,
see J.Simcox and J.Vollmer, Emblems of Empire: Selection from
During the Qing dynasty, it became an established practice for the the Mactaggart Art Collection, Edmonton CA, 2009, pp.200-217.
court to send gifts of silks and garments to Tibet because of the Compare also with a similar yellow-ground silk chuba, 18th century,
strong attachment of the Manchu rulers to Tibetan Buddhism and in the Art Gallery of South Wales, Sydney, illustrated by J.Rutherford,
the political relations; see J.Hevia, ‘Lamas, Emperors, and Rituals: Celestial Silks. Chinese Religious and Court Textiles, Sydney, 2004,
Political Implications in Qing Imperial Ceremonies’, in Journal of the p.43, no.17.
International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol.16, no.2, 1993,
pp.243-278.The Qing emperors made Beijing a major centre for A related yellow-ground brocade silk chuba, 18th century, was sold at
the study of Tibetan Buddhism. The Qianlong emperor, in particular, Christie’s New York, 17 september 2008, lot 174.
recognised the supremacy of the religious authority of the Dalai Lama,
and in turn Tibetans acknowledged the emperor as an incarnation of
the Bodhisattva Manjusri, a manifestation of the Buddha of the Future;
see M.Henss, ‘The Bodhisattva Emperor: Tibeto-Chinese Portraits of
Sacred and Secular Rule in the Qing Dynasty’, in Oriental Art, vol.47,
no.3, pp.2016.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
94 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.