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A RED SILK SATIN ‘HUNDRED BOYS’ 493
THREE QUARTER-LENGTH JACKET, AO
Late Qing Dynasty
The brocaded scarlet-red satin richly
embroidered in gold thread with eight dragon
roundels on a diamond pattern ground
formed of interlocking ruyi heads, enclosing
blue and violet flower heads and interspersed
with boys in various pursuits, all above a gold,
blue and green lishui band interspersed with
large-headed peonies.
105cm (45 1/4in) long

£800 - 1,200
CNY7,300 - 11,000
HK$8,800 - 13,000

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

The ‘hundred boys’ motif, charged with
auspicious wishes of fecundity and continuity
of the family, is a very popular theme in
Chinese art, and particularly suited to
garments styled for weddings. It is very
possible, therefore, that this jacket is a
variation of the Han-Chinese wedding jacket,
mang’ao, which it follows in shape, colour
scheme, and arrangement of dragons.

For other examples of bridal jackets,
mang’ao, see Paul Haig & Marla Shelton,
Threads of Gold, Chinese Textiles Ming to
Ch’ing, Atglen, PA: 2006, pp. 159-160. For
another example of gold-thread rhomboidal
diaper ground on a jacket of similar shape,
but identified as a Daoist ‘idol’ jacket and
bearing the twelve Imperial symbols of office,
see ibid., pp.124-126.

493
A LADY’S EMBROIDERED BLUE SILK
DAMASK JACKET
19th century
The cornflower blue silk woven with trailing
peonies and embroidered in brightly coloured
threads with butterflies amongst lotuses,
peonies, magnolias and melons, all above a
polychrome lishui band at the hem. 107cm
(42in) high

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

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