Page 122 - Bonhams NYC Chinese works of Art March 2019
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A LADY’S INFORMAL KESI COURT ROBE
Late Qing dynasty
Finely woven with eight medallions containing flowering and fruiting
double-gourd vines enclosed within linked foliate and ruyi borders,
surrounded by butterflies and hydrangeas, the design repeated on the
collar and wide sleeve bands, edged in black and gold brocade, with
terrestrial diagram and lishui border at the hem.
57in (144.7cm) long
$12,000 - 18,000
晚清 緙絲彩繪瓜蝶綉球紋夾袍
The use of decorative roundels in Chinese textiles dates to the Tang
dynasty (618-906). The motifs contained within--here repeated on
the cuffs and collar--are dictated by the wearer’s position in society
and also the occasion. Whereas dragons would be worn for the
most formal imperial events and ceremony, floral imagery would be
appropriate for domestic affairs. See John Vollmer, Clothed to Rule
the Universe Ming and Qing Dynasty Textiles at The Art Institute of
Chicago, p. 73.
Similar examples are illustrated by Robert D. Jackson, Imperial Silks:
Ch’ing Dynasty Textiles in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, vol. I,
Minneapolis, 2000, nos. 97, 98, 101, 102.
120 | BONHAMS
