Chinese Child's Robe, ca. 1850
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GUEST:
My grandmother passed away recently, and I found it in her attic. She didn't do any extensive traveling in Asia that I'm aware of, but I think her parents may have at some point.
APPRAISER:
So did you know that the robe was Chinese?
GUEST:
I had a feeling.
APPRAISER:
Well, it's Chinese, and it's actually kind of unusual because of a number of different features. One, it's for a child.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But the child was also probably a eunuch.
GUEST:
Oh, really?
APPRAISER:
And a servant in the palace.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
These robes are pretty standardized from the 17th century to the 20th century, but certain things change, and one of the things that change is this area in the robe, on the bottom. It's called lishui. Later on, into the 20th century, this gets longer and longer and longer, and one of the reasons why, it was the easiest part of the robe to embroider.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So, basically, they were cost-cutting on it. The motif on the bottom actually represents the firmament, and then the dragons are all couched in gold thread.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And that gold thread was gold leaf that was actually wrapped around threads and used for the embroidery. There are these round figures with the flames, and those are celestial pearls, and there are bats on the robe, too, but bats just mean prosperity. The robe is silk, the embroidery is also silk. At this period of time, which was about the 1850s, there were just a huge quantity of people attending, basically, the emperor's every needs. And it was people like this that were doing the clean-up work.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
Even in these robes. At auction, I would expect this robe to sell for around $2,000.
GUEST:
Wow, great.
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