A RARE IMPERIAL MIDNIGHT-BLUE EMBROIDERED YARDAGE FOR AN EMPEROR'S SURCOAT, GUNFU

18th/early 19th century

18th/early 19th century
The rectangular panel stitched together from two lengths of silk, divided down one half to provide the front opening of the robe, embroidered and couched with four front-facing dragon roundels, the dragons couched against a ground of dense foliate scrolls bearing lotus blossoms with scattered peaches over turbulent waters, enclosed within a border of dense cloud scrolls and bats, the front and rear roundels with a shou medallion couched above the dragons' heads, the left shoulder roundel with the Imperial moon symbol above the dragon's head and the right with the Imperial sun symbol, the long edge roughly hemmed, lined in light blue silk.
102 1/4 x 51in (259.7 x 129.5cm)

十八/十九世紀初 御製石青緞繡盤金四團龍皇帝袞服料

During the reign of the Qianlong emperor all members of the Imperial hierarchy were required to wear a surcoat over their formal court robes. The prescriptions regarding these surcoats were laid out in the Huangchao liqi tushi (Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Imperial court). The surcoat for the emperor was called a gunfu and had four roundels with front-facing dragons. Each of the roundels over the shoulders bore one of the twelve symbols of Imperial power. The sun disc with the three-legged cockerel over the left shoulder, and the moon disc with the hare over the right. In addition, the front and back roundels also included a shou (longevity) medallion. An illustration of the emperor's gunfu from the Huangchao liqi tushi is reproduced by Gary Dickinson and Linda Wrigglesworth, Imperial Wardrobe, Berkeley, 2000, pl.102, p.122; and a detail of a shoulder roundel from a gunfu is illustrated, ibid, p.103, p.123.

An 18th century gold-couched gunfu is illustrated by Chris Hall, John E. Vollmer, et. al, Power Dressing: Textiles for Rulers and Priests from the Chris Hall Collection, Singapore, 2013, no.20, pp.138-139; and a Jiaqing period embroidered gauze gunfu was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 6 April 2015, lot 183.