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Lot 6
Two midnight-blue-ground embroidered roundels with seven symbols of sovereignty Circa 1912
2 April 2025, 16:00 AEDT
SydneySold for AU$5,535 inc. premium
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Two midnight-blue-ground embroidered roundels with seven symbols of sovereignty
Circa 1912
21.0cm diam., and 19.2cm diam. (2).
21.0cm diam., and 19.2cm diam. (2).
Footnotes
Provenance:
(possibly one of) Judith Rutherford, Sydney, 12 Oct 1999 (correspondence)
約一九一二年 石青緞地七章紋圓補二枚
傳承：
（或，其一）悉尼，Judith Rutherford，1999年10月12日（信件）
This lot is accompanied with a correspondence from Judith Rutherford to Mrs Cheung, "The roundel has an interesting history, A ruthless general named Yuan Shih-k'ai seized power at the beginning of the Chinese Republic (1912) and wanted to become Emperor. He planned to hold a great Annual Sacrifice in imperial style to establish his claim; but just before he could do that, a revolution in December 1915 displaced him. Meanwhile, he had issued instructions for new official dress for the great ceremony. He himself was to wear a dark robe with 12 circular medallions, each containing all twelve imperial symbols; the next degree of officials (high statesmen) were to have nine medallions with nine symbols(as per this roundel), the next rank (governors of provinces) would have seven medallions with seven symbols, the next, five medallions holding five symbols and the last, as I recall, three medallions with three symbols. The badges were made, and preparations were underway to dew them on to the black robes, but the revolt against Yuan stopped all this. Although there must have been many examples made, very few have survived, so this roundel is valuable."
For a similar seven-symbol roundel, see Chris Hall, Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and priest from the Chris Hall Collection, Asian Civilisation Museum, 2006: Singapore, p.193, pl.44."
此拍品附有 Judith Rutherford 致張夫人的一封信函，其中寫道：「此圓補的裝飾有著一段有趣的歷史：袁世凱在民國初期（1912 年）奪取政權，並企圖稱帝。他計畫舉行一場盛大的登基典禮，以確立自己的皇位。然而，就在他即將舉行儀式前的1915年底，各地爆發討袁革命，迫使袁撤銷帝令。在此期間，袁卻已下令製作新的官服，以用於其登基典禮。他本人將著石青長袍，上繡十二補子，每個補子內皆含十二章紋。次一級的高級官員（國家重臣）著九補九章服（如本拍品所示）、各省督撫則為七補七章，以此類推，至三補三章。這些補子即已製成，隨時等待縫製到官服，卻由於袁突然的倒臺而嘎然而止。儘管當時製作了許多此類圓補，但現存極為稀少，使該圓補尤為珍貴。」
關於類似的七章紋補，請參見 Chris Hall，Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and priest from the Chris Hall Collection，亞洲文明博物館，2006年：新加坡，頁193，圖版44。