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Red Wedding Robe

Red Wedding Robe

19th century

Chinese attire can be distinguished in shape and construction from Manchu attire. This Chinese woman’s red bridal coat was originally worn with trousers. Its quasi-official decoration borrows themes from formal court garments where the imperial imagery of dragons in a cosmic landscape of stylized clouds, mountains, and ocean waves represent the wearer’s official rank and status. Specific wishes for continued success in officialdom include coral branches, which refers to coral hat finals worn by first-rank civil officers. The word for halberd (ji) is a pun for rank (ji), so the boats each carrying three halberds represent wishes for one’s sons to be quickly promoted many, many times.
Silk cloth with embroidery
67 x 45 in. (170.2 x 114.3 cm)
Gift of Mrs. William E. Grimshaw
51.74
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Dec. 10, 2021 - July 24, 2022].

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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