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A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 1
A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 2
A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 3
A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 4
A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 5
A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 6
A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI Circa 1880 image 7
Lot 288*

A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI
Circa 1880

Fine Chinese Art: Including Imperial and Court Textiles Curated by Linda Wrigglesworth
2 November 2021, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £10,200 inc. premium

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A RARE EMBROIDERED PALE-BLUE-GROUND SILK DAOIST PRIEST'S ROBE, JIANGYI

Circa 1880
Of rectangular form with a central opening at the front, the heather-blue brocade woven with intricate pale pink designs of sinuous dragons striding chasing flaming pearls amid clusters of vaporous clouds and leafy vines, the back elaborately decorated with the square Daoist diagram incorporating symbols of the sun and moon (cockerel and rabbit), the constellations and the symbolic forms of the Five Sacred Mountains, all surrounded by cloud fronds, cranes and phoenix, all worked in a fine net pattern of metallic couched threads, all within borders incorporating five-clawed dragons, cranes, carps and heavenly horses striding above rolling waves at the hems and back and front sleeve openings, worked in very fine couched gold, multi-coloured threads and gold leafed paper on a deep blue ground.
158 (62 2/8in) wide x 136cm (53 1/2in) long.

Footnotes

約1880年 淺藍緞地繡鬱羅蕭台瑞獸紋道教絳衣

Provenance: a distinguished New York private collection

來源：紐約顯赫私人收藏

Finely embroidered in multi-coloured silk, couched gold wrapped thread and gold-leaf paper, this exquisite garment was made for a Daoist Priest of the First Degree. Daoist garments, also known as robes of descent, jiangyi, evoked the meditative transcendence of the wearer and are among the most sumptuous and visually spectacular works of Daoist ritual art.

Jiangyi robes worn by the grand master consisted of two main lengths of yardage, sewn together up the back, with the front-left open. The most important decoration appeared on the back of the garment as this was seen by the supplicants as the priest faced the altar to perform his rites. However, the grand master also faced outward, sometimes descending to the lay people's level, hence the translation 'robe of descent'. Symbolically, the wearers of garments decorated with such cosmic designs were thought of becoming the animators of rituals and promoting harmony with Heaven and stability on Earth.

The symbolism underscored by the subjects depicted on Daoist robes combined in richly orchestrated displays related to Daoist vision of an ordered cosmos, harmonious existence with nature, and heavenly paradise. The principal features include a central pagoda within a circle or ovoid, surrounded by stars, clouds, and a rainbow pattern representing paradise. The circle itself is often ringed with flames, with the symbols of the sun and the moon, containing respectively the three-legged cockerel and the rabbit pounding the elixir of longevity, positioned at the top. Surrounding the circle are plain disks representing the stars. The Jade Emperor sat within his palace as the focus of the glowing arch formed by the stars around him. The side and hem borders include a a version of the celestial landscape populated by dragons and other mythical creatures; see J.Vollmer, Imperial Silks. Ch'ing Dynasty Textiles in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MA, 2000, p.354-357.

The formula of portraying the cosmos with the Daoist palace at the centre, flanked by the sun and the moon, dates from at least the Han dynasty and an early form may be noted on the famous banner excavated from tomb 1 in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan, which depicted the deceased's journey toward the Daoist Immortal realm. A similar depiction of the Immortal land as an icon survives in 14th century wall frescoes in the Yonglegong, Shanxi Province and others preserved in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, illustrated by C.Brown, Chinese Scholars' Rocks and the Lands of Immortals: Some Insights from Paintings, in R.D.Mowry, Worlds Within Worlds: The Richard Rosenblum Collection of Chinese Scholars' Rocks, Cambridge, MA, 1997, p.67, fig.4.

Compare with a related pale blue-ground embroidered silk Daoist Priest's robe, late Qing dynasty, illustrated in Heaven's Embroidered Cloths. One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, 1995, pp.186-187, no.48.

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