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Lot 3

A pair of Imperial yellow-ground embroidered dragon roundels with symbols of sovereignty
Tongzhi to Guangxu period

2 April 2025, 16:00 AEDT
Sydney

Sold for AU$15,990 inc. premium

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A pair of Imperial yellow-ground embroidered dragon roundels with symbols of sovereignty

Tongzhi to Guangxu period
approx. 29.5cm diam. each (2).

Footnotes

Provenance:
Judith Rutherford, Sydney 8 Jul 2001 (valuation and certificate)

清同治至光緒 明黃綢日月章正龍紋圓補成對

傳承:
悉尼 Judith Rutherford,2001年7月8日

In the Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Imperial Dynasty (Huangchao Liqi Tushi), only the emperor's ceremonial robe (gunfu) is adorned with dragon roundels with sun and moon insignias. However, the gunfu is colored midnight blue. While the dragon robes of the Empress Dowager and Empress feature dragon roundels against bright yellow ground, the sun and moon insignias are reserved exclusively for the emperor himself.

Throughout the Qing Dynasty, the only person to have combined the Imperial yellow dragon roundels with sun and moon insignias is Empress Dowager Cixi. See a semi-formal robe from the Palace Museum, Beijing, worn by Cixi, of such characters, Dragon Emperor: Treasure from the Forbidden City, Melbourne:1988, p.94, pl.53. From this, it can be inferred that the current lot likely dates to the period when Empress Dowager Cixi was ruling "from behind the curtain", from 1861 to 1908.

《皇朝禮器圖式》中載具日月章團龍紋的只有皇帝袞服,而皇帝袞服按制色用石青。皇太后皇后龍袍雖用明黃綉文團龍,日月章卻只限皇帝一人。有清一代,襲明黃團龍袍而有日月章者,只慈禧一人。故宮博物院藏一慈禧明黃團龍吉服,左右兩肩團龍即有日月二章。見 Dragon Emperor: Treasure from the Forbidden City,墨爾本:1988,頁94,圖版53。由是觀之,這對團龍補應當是在慈禧垂簾聽政時期。

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