Footnotes

Exhibited:
J. Rutherford and J. Menzies, Celestial Silks: Chinese Religious & Court Textiles, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, 31 Jul to 24 Oct 2004
Published:
ibid., Sydney: 2004, p.75, pl.39

明萬曆 明黄地龍紋燈景圓補

展覽：
J. Rutherford and J. Menzies, Celestial Silks: Chinese Religious & Court Textiles, 紐省博物館，20004年7月31日至10月24日
錄著：
同名圖錄，悉尼：2004，頁75，圖版39號

Against an embroidered Imperial yellow ground, the joyful and lively five-claw dragon swirls under three colourful lanterns above sea waves and mountains. This exemplary badge for the Lantern Festival leads the discussion of "Ming Festival Badges" in the exhibition of Celestial Silks: Chinese Religious & Court Textiles.

The ancient China being a predominantly agrarian society, observations of these major astrological events based on the Sun and Moon movement becomes essential in the ruling class's annual calendar. From these observations come major festivals and rituals. The emperor, being the head of the state, leads such rituals and offerings. The courtiers are required to wear special clothes for the festivals, including robes, hats and badges appropriate to each occasion. The badges are worn on the front and back of plain robes. The lantern festival falls on the 15th day of the new year. It marks the first full moon of the new year and the dawning of spring. To welcome increasing light and warmth of the sun after the winter's cold, lanterns are hung in every possible location. Cakes are baked with lantern symbols, and badges decorated accordingly, too. With the Festival, the New Year celebration comes to an end.

This 'lantern festival' badge is one among a very small group of surviving examples of festival badges. Of the existing samples that are known today, most date from the Wanli period (1573-1619), such as the current lot, a reign famous for its conspicuous consumption and lavish clothes. With the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 the production of Court festival badges also come to an end.

The Imperial yellow background with a five-clawed dragon on this roundel indicates that it would have been worn by a high-ranking member of the Imperial clan. The intricate embroidery techniques employed in this badge are consistent with those found on the finest of the Imperial costumes and textiles, and many ceased to be used on textiles found on the later dynasty. The ground of the badge is covered by an 'encroaching' satin stitch whereby each new stitch fits in between the base of the two on the row before, a technique that is increasingly limited to finer details such as feathers and petals during the Qing dynasty. The gold threads of the dragon's scales that are couched down with red stitches may have further been padded underneath between the couching stitches to give the body a three-dimensional effect. This differs from the 'dragons' during the Qing dynasty where each of the couching 'scales' are overlapping each other rather than padded, a clever however more mechanical method in achieving the three-dimensional effect with reduced complexity. Similarly, the outlines of the 'clouds' and 'waves' in the badge are achieved by satin stitches over metal wires that are bent to shape. The outlines of such designs are met with the dense yellow ground, with contrasting colours 'encroaching' on each other. This technique of outlining designs give way to 'voiding' in the Qing dynasty, where the embroider leaves a thin line of the ground material free from stitching - a much less labour intensive method however, again, with the appearance increasingly mechanic especially during the later reigns.
This festival badge exhibits a balance of harmonious design with elaborate and meticulous techniques and lively colours that are vibrant even till this day. Such work is undoubtedly fit for a royal and for one of the most important Imperial celebrations in the Ming Court.

For another festival badge for the Lantern Festival dated from the Wanli period, see Wong Hwei Lian and Szan Tan eds., Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and priest from the Chris Hall Collection, Asian Civilisation Museum, 2006: Singapore, p.265, pl.81. An embroidered panel dated to the Wanli period in the same publication uses the same padded technique in the dragon's scale, see ibid., p.183, pl.39. A badge for the Winter Solstice from the same exhibition the current lot is featured was sold with Christie's, Hong Kong, 30 Nov 2011, lot 3145.

在2004年紐省博物館主辦的中國宗教宮廷織物展中，此件萬曆朝燈景圆補引領了「明代節日補」的章節。

中國古代的農耕社會，統治階層依據日月運行觀測天文現象，制定重要節日與儀式。這些節日在皇帝主持的祭祀與儀典中占據核心地位。朝臣為參與這些隆重的節日活動，穿戴特定的服飾，包括袍服、冠帽及與節日匹配的補子。補子一般裝飾於素色袍服的前後，用以彰顯穿戴者的身份及地位。元宵節，農曆正月十五日，是新年的第一個滿月，也象徵春天的來臨。人們在此日張燈結彩、製作燈籠形糕點，並佩戴燈景補子。元宵節過後，新年的慶祝活動便正式告一段落。

這枚燈景補屬於少數存世的節日補子之一。已知範例大多可追溯至萬曆年間（1573-1619），以奢靡繁複的服飾聞名，此補子即是其中之一。1644年明朝覆亡後，宮廷節日補的製作也隨之停歇。
此補子以明黃色地襯托五爪龍，表明它為皇室所屬。其刺繡工藝繁複，達到了明代宮廷織物的頂尖水平，其中許多技法在清代絕少使用。例如，鋪滿背景的「搶針」技法，每針嵌入上一排針腳之間，排列細密延綿，整個背景不留絲毫縫隙。龍鱗的金線以紅綫釘針固定，並在每個「鱗片」的金線底部加以墊料，形成立體感。而至有清一代，龍紋「鱗片」大都以類似釘金綉相互重疊的方式 ，而非以墊絮工藝來呈現立體感，雖工藝簡化但稍顯機械化。同時，補子上的「雲紋」與「海水紋」通過盤綫綉成形，並以釘針固定。這些輪廓與黃色搶針相「咬合」，過渡自然且立體感强烈。這種工藝在清代逐漸被稱為「水路」的技法取代。刺繡者在輪廓處留下一條可以看見底料的窄縫，雖然減少了工時，卻因更加工整與規律化而呈現出了生硬感，這點在清末時期的衣物上尤爲明顯。
此節日補展示了明末宮廷織物的巧奪天工，與明代宮廷中重要的慶典相得益彰。

比較另一件萬曆年間的燈景補，請見黃慧蓮及陳山主編，Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and priest from the Chris Hall Collection，新加坡亞洲文明博物館，2006年，第265頁，圖版81。同一書籍中另一件萬曆年間的刺繡掛件採用了相同的龍鱗墊高技法，見第183頁，圖版39。此外，與本件拍品同時展出的一件冬至節補子於2011年11月30日在香港佳士得釋出，拍品編號3145。另，中國國家博物館藏《憲宗元宵行樂圖卷》中可見宮廷張燈，各式花燈中不乏與此拍品中燈籠形制極其相似者，可見明代燈景的格式設計。