Page 130 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

108
A RARE FIVE-COLOUR-CLOUD BLUE-GROUND SILK
ROBE, JIFU
First half 19th century
The blue silk finely worked in couched colour gold and silver
thread and fine counted stitch with nine five-clawed dragons
pursuing flaming pearls amidst five-colour clouds interspersed
with bats and the Eight Buddhist Emblems above a wide
terrestrial diagram and lishui stripe separated by billowing ruyi-
shaped clouds, with similar decoration repeated on the border,
collar and horsehoof cuffs. 140.5cm (55 1/2in) high.
£6,000 - 8,000
CNY53,000 - 70,000
十九世紀上半葉 藍地繡彩雲金銀龍紋袍
Provenance: Anne Moen Bullitt (1924-2007)
Christie’s London, 15 May 2009, lot 314
Anne Moen Bullitt was an American socialite, philanthropist, and
horsebreeder. Her father, William Christian Bullitt, was the first
American ambassador to the Soviet Union and later became
his country’s ambassador to France under President Franklin
D. Roosevelt. In her youth she was regarded as a great beauty,
and was known for assembling a wardrobe of rare and valuable
classic haute couture items. She bought a 700-acre estate in
County Kildare, where she enjoyed much success and fame in
Ireland as a horse owner, breeder and trainer, and became the
first woman in Ireland to be granted a racehorse trainer’s licence.

108 來源：Anne Moen Bullitt舊藏
倫敦佳士得，2009年5月15日，拍品編號314

The delicate bright gold and silver couching and the counted-
stitch embroidery against the textured blue ground provide a
striking contrast on this remarkable robe. A related blue gauze
‘dragon’ robe, 19th century, is illustrated by C. Hall et al. Power
Dressing, Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall
Collection, Singapore, 2006, p.147, no.23, where the authors
mention that blue as a background colour for dragon robes
was typically worn by the 3rd and 4th degree princes as well
as nobles down to the 11th degree. A similar blue-ground silk
‘dragon’ robe, Jiaqing, embroidered with five-coloured ruyi
clouds, was sold at Christie’s New York, 19 March 2008, lot 26.

109
A CHESTNUT SILK GAUZE CHILD’S ‘NINE-DRAGON’
ROBE, JIFU
Late Qing Dynasty
The robe finely woven and embroidered in counted-stitch
and couched gold threads with nine five-clawed dragons
confronting flaming pearls interspersed with clouds and
ribboned Buddhist Emblems above the terrestrial diagram and
turbulent waves at the hem.
147cm (57 6/8in) across x 96cm (37 6/8in) long.
£2,000 - 3,000
CNY18,000 - 26,000

清晚期 絳色紗納繡金龍紋吉服

Provenance: Livio Borghese (1874-1939), 11th Prince of
Sulmona, Prince of Rossano, Prince of Vivaro, Prince of
Montecompatri, Duke of Palombara, Duke of Poggio Nativo
and Castelchiodato, head of the House of Borghese, Italy, and
thence by descent.
109 Prince Livio Borghese was an Italian diplomat from the end of
the 19th century until his death in 1939, serving in China as an
Ambassador in 1907, the Ottoman Empire and other European
countries. It is likely that the present lot was acquired during his
service in China. His elder brother Prince Scipione Borghese
(1871-1927), 10th Prince of Sulmona, was famous for winning
the ‘Peking to Paris’ car race in 1907.

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