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Chinese Dress. Valery Garrett
Читать онлайн.Название Chinese Dress
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781462906949
Автор произведения Valery Garrett
Издательство Ingram
Fig. 55 Second style summer court robe with flared collar, 18th c.
Fig. 56 Painting on silk from the Regulations of the second style summer court vest for an imperial consort.
Accessories
An important accouterment of court dress worn by female members of the Imperial Household was the chao guan or court hat. At the beginning of the dynasty, different hats were worn in summer and winter, but by the reign of the Kangxi Emperor the winter style had been adopted for use throughout the year. The chao guan was similar in shape to the men’s winter hat, with a fur brim and a crown covered with red floss silk tassels, but it had an additional back flap shaped like an inverted gourd, made of fur. In summer, the hat brim and back flap were faced with black satin or velvet.
Seven elaborately ornamented gold phoenixes graced the crown of a first-rank imperial consort’s summer chao guan, while lesser imperial concubines wore five. At the back of the hat, a golden pheasant supporting three strings of pearls anchored by a lapis lazuli ornament hung down over the flap (Figs. 58, 59). The crowns of hats worn by princesses were covered with red floss silk and decorated with golden pheasants, while the hats of lower-ranking noblewomen had small jeweled plaques secured to the base of the crown just above the brim.
As ordained by the Regulations, the hat finials of the empress, empress dowager, and first rank imperial consort were composed of three tiers of golden phoenixes and pearls (see Fig. 59). Lesser-ranking imperial concubines were allowed to wear finials comprising two tiers of phoenixes and pearls. Lower-ranking noblewomen wore a simpler, smaller version of the man’s hat finial (Fig. 60).
Fig. 57 Woman’s large flaring collar worn on top of a court robe, with two dragons in profile on either side of a mountain, the background filled with clouds and lucky emblems. Men’s collars usually had five dragons.
Fig. 58 Painting on silk from the Regulations of a winter court hat belonging to an imperial noblewoman.
Fig. 59 Summer court hat of a first-rank imperial consort. The brim and back flap are in black velvet, with red floss silk fringing covering the crown, seven gold phoenix ornaments set with pearls placed around the crown, and three phoenixes on the finial.
Fig. 60 Noblewoman’s hat finial of brass with amber jewels. This would have been sewn to the hat through the tiny holes around the base, instead of being fixed with a long screw through the crown.
Fig. 61 Diadem of gold inlaid with lapis lazuli and pearls.
Fig. 62 Black satin headband for a Manchu nobleman’s wife decorated with four-clawed profile dragons couched in gold and silver thread, one on each side of a flaming pearl. On each of the pendants, which hung down the back, there is a long coiling dragon and a phoenix of a similar design.
The court hat rested on a diadem or coronet (jin yue), which encircled the forehead (Fig. 61). Diadems were also an indicator of rank and appear in the Regulations after the section on hats. The diadems of women in the imperial family were made of several sections of gold joined together and inlaid with precious stones such as lapis lazuli and pearls. Although not shown here, either five or three strings of pearls, depending on rank, hung down the back, anchored at the top and just above midway by two oval plaques.
On official occasions, lower-ranking women, ranging from the wives of dukes down to the wives of seventh-rank mandarins, wore a silk headband on the forehead in place of a diadem or coronet (Fig. 62). Composed of a band of black satin, it was decorated with semiprecious stones in the form of a dragon and phoenix chasing a flaming pearl. Two pendants embroidered in similar fashion hung down the back. Tiny loops at the top enabled the band to be hooked over a jeweled hairpin, which was pushed into the hair just under the back fastening of the headband.
Women from the imperial family and Manchu noblewomen had their ears pierced to accommodate three pairs of drop earrings (erh-shih) in each ear when wearing court dress.
A jeweled collar or torque was listed in the Regulations as an essential part of court dress for members of the imperial family and noblewomen (Fig. 63). Called a ling yue, it was made of gold or silver gilt inlaid with semiprecious stones such as pearls, coral, rubies, and lapis lazuli, the number of stones determining rank. Silk braids, the colors corresponding to those of the robes, hung down from the back opening, ending in drop pendants of matching semiprecious stones.
Another essential item of court dress for the ladies of the imperial family, noblewomen, and wives of high officials was the court necklace (chao zhu), which was similar in style to the one worn by their husbands but with the addition of two necklaces crossing from left shoulder to right underarm, and vice versa. When wearing the dragon robe on semiformal occasions, a single necklace was appropriate. Only the empress or empress dowager could wear a main necklace formed of Manchurian pearls, the other two being made of coral. Amber and coral necklaces were worn by lower-ranking consorts and princesses, while other members of the family were permitted to wear any type of semiprecious stone not restricted to the empress and empress dowager.
Another symbol of rank listed for women in the Regulations was the zai shui, a long pointed kerchief made of yellow, red, or blue silk and embroidered with auspicious emblems like the dragon and phoenix (Fig. 64). Suspended from a jeweled ring, it fastened to a center button on the court vest or to the side top button on the dragon robe. Silk cords with charms made from jade or other semi-precious stones hung from the jewel, with a jeweled bar approximately one-third the way down from the top.
Semiformal and Informal Attire
For semiformal official occasions and during festivals, the women within the imperial family wore the long pao, a side-fastening robe embroidered with nine five-clawed dragons, its long sleeves ending in horse-hoof cuffs, and in colors corresponding to rank. Unlike those worn by men, women’s dragon robes had no splits at the center back and front hem since women did not sit astride horses. Additional bands of dragons at the seams linking the upper and lower sleeves were,