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53 ? in. (135.9 cm.) long; 61 in. (154.9 cm.) wide
Kim Jongki (1911-1991) Collection, Korea, prior to 1930.Kim Haksoo (b. 1933) Collection, Korea, and thence by descent.
This rare ‘dragon’ robe is one of less than thirty extant examples of its type, and is representative of the development of the ‘dragon’ robe in the early Qing dynasty. Ming dynasty robes, and some of the earliest Qing dynasty ‘dragon’ robes featured a pair of dragons extending the length of the garment, but by the Kangxi period (1662-1722), the robe evolved to include nine dragons separated into two registers—with eight visible dragons and one hidden dragon. The separation of the dragons into two registers was likely because the Manchu Qing dynasty was accustomed to wearing a belt with their clothing, and the new organization allowed for this without interrupting the robe’s design. The dragons on these Kangxi robes featured larger front-facing dragons on the front and back amidst smaller side-facing dragons, while the dragons on later Qing-dynasty robes were all approximately the same size. The Kangxi robes were made from very high-quality brocade fabric and were all made with nearly identical cartoons, with very minor alterations in design. The Kangxi robes also featured sleeves and cuffs which were made from the same material as the robe, and had simple binding at the neck and small gilt buttons. By the mid-eighteenth century, different fabrics would be used for the sleeve extensions and cuffs as illustrated in Huangchao liqi tushi, which was compiled in 1759 and enforced in 1766. Little information is known about who the wearer of this type of robe would have been. It has been most commonly suggested that the robe is a semi-formal court robe for a Machu man, as all of the extant examples are tailored for men. Similar robes have been found in a variety of colors including salmon, pale blue, black, ivory, and dark blue, like the present robe, and some scholars have suggested that the variety of colors could indicate that this robe was meant to be worn for a ceremony at court. A nearly identical dark blue brocade dragon robe, different from the present robe only in its salmon-colored lining, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and is published by John Vollmer in Ruling from the Dragon Throne: Costume of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), California, 2002, p. 100, fig. 4.18. Another robe in ivory, is in the Chris Hall Collection, and is illustrated in Power Dressing: Textile for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall Collection, Singapore, 2006, p.136, fig. 19. Other examples include a chestnut-brown robe illustrated by John E. Vollmer in the exhibition catalogue Five Colours of the Universe, Edmonton Art Gallery, 7 November 1980-11 January 1981, pp. 20-21; and a pale blue example, illustrated by Judith Rutherford and Jackie Menzies in Celestial Silks, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004, p. 65, fig. 31, and now in a private collection in Melbourne. A yellow example was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 May 2009, lot 1817.