CHRISTIE’S TO OFFER THE FIRST EVER AUCTION IN THE U.S. DEVOTED TO CHINESE TEXTILES On March 19th Christie’s will be offering a superb single owner sale of Chinese textiles
from the collection of Linda Wrigglesworth
News-Antique.com - Feb 20,2008 - The Imperial Wardrobe:
Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles from the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection
March 19, 2008
New York – On March 19th Christie’s will be offering a superb single owner sale of Chinese textiles
from the collection of Linda Wrigglesworth, a renowned dealer and collector in Chinese textiles
whose dedication and passion contributed immensely to developing the Chinese textiles field into
the buoyant collecting category it is today, especially in the area of Qing dynasty material (1644-
1911). The upcoming sale at Christie’s New York will be the first single owner auction in the West
entirely devoted to Chinese textiles and will consist of approximately 150 lots with an expected value
of US$3.3 – 4.6 million. Several of the treasures that will be included in the sale have been
published in Ms. Wrigglesworth’s seminal publication, Imperial Wardrobe.
One of the sale’s main features is that it will demonstrate the opulence and diversity of Qing
costume and accessories in an unprecedented way. The section
devoted to Imperial Court wear will be led by an extremely rare
Imperial yellow twelve-symbol kesi dragon robe for an Empreror, jifu,
Xianfeng period (1821-1850) (illustrated left, estimate: US$300,000-
500,000). Entirely woven in fine silk in the kesi, or ‘split weave’
technique – the most challenging and intricate of all weaving
procedures – this robe displays nine gold dragons and the twelve
symbols of Imperial authority on an Imperial yellow ground. The
ancient twelve symbols of authority represented the emperor’s sacrificial duties, his powers of
judgement and punishment and the elements of Chinese cosmology. The robe’s classic design
shows nine symmetrically placed five-clawed Imperial dragons writhing amidst clouds and longevity
symbols above water and wave motifs. Only emperors, empresses, and Imperial consorts of the
highest degree were permitted to wear Imperial yellow and as this robe depicts the twelve symbols
which could only be worn by members of the Imperial family, it was clearly made for an emperor.
Complimenting this rare example is a stunning woman’s silk gauze summer
surcoat, long gua (illustrated right, estimate: US$200,000-250,000), probably worn by
a first rank Imperial consort. Manchu women wore these robes for formal
occasions in the presence of the emperor and this appears to be the only outer
garment dating from the 18th century to have ever been offered at auction. The
surcoat is sumptuously embroidered with eight dragon roundels and follows
quite closely the designs specified by the Imperial court in the Huangchao Liqi Tushi regulations. The original tailoring shows the classic 18th century form, and
the gold dragon roundels are a striking contrast to the plain dark blue silk ground.
Equally rare is an exceptionally finely woven kesi silk tapestry, Imperial
noblewoman’s sleeveless front-opening formal court vest, chaogua, Daoguang
period (1821-1850) (illustrated left, estimate: US$120,000-150,000). This design
of court vest, with seven dragons, does not strictly conform to those
specified in court dress laws, however, it is very close to those restricted to
use by Imperial princesses of the highest two ranks. Examples of Court vests of
