Page 200 - Bonhams Asian Art May2016 UK

490 490
A HAN-CHINESE BRIDAL-STYLE JACKET
491 FOR A CHILD, MANG’AO
198 | BONHAMS 19th century
The peach coloured satin richly embroidered
in gold and brightly coloured threads with
five-clawed dragons and phoenix amongst
Buddhist symbols, gourds and flowers, all
above a gold thread lishui band; together
with a child’s jacket of green silk woven with
a pattern of lotus roundels amongst bats and
ruyi clouds, with black ground embroidered
hems.
Each: 62cm (24 3/8in) long (2).

£600 - 800
CNY5,500 - 7,300
HK$6,600 - 8,800

Property from Mr. and Mrs. C. Lefebvre
Collection of Chinese Robes

For a very similar children’s bridal-style jacket,
but on a bright red ground, see John E.
Vollmer, in his Dressed to Rule: 18th Century
Court Attire in the Mactaggart Art Collection,
University of Alberta Press: 2007, no.
2005.5.168.

Vollmer points out the aspirational nature of
this attire: as the main aspiration of most girls
was marriage, their ceremonial robes were
often patterned after bridal jackets, in the
same way that boys wore miniature ‘dragon’
robes for New Year and family birthday
celebrations. An example of a miniature
‘dragon’ robe for a boy is illustrated in the
same volume, no. 2005.5.79.

491
A RED SILK DAMASK WOMAN’S SEMI-
FORMAL ROBE, CHANGYI
19th century
The red silk damask embroidered in three-
blue with peonies and butterflies, the robe
typically modelled with deep side slashes and
wide sleeves, the hems applied with multiple
borders.
123cm (48 5/8in) long

£1,000 - 1,500
CNY9,200 - 14,000
HK$11,000 - 16,000

Property from Mr. and Mrs. C. Lefebvre
Collection of Chinese Robes

Interestingly, the colour palette of the
embroidery on the present jacket, called san
lan or ‘three blue’, marks it as a garment used
by an elder lady, as pointed out by Valerie
Garrett in Chinese Clothing, an Illustrated
Guide, New York: 1994, pl. 40.