Null Fragment of a dragon robe. Silk fabric in kesi technique. 18th/19th c.

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Description

Fragment of a dragon robe. Silk fabric in kesi technique. 18th/19th c. Round laid dragon and flaming jewel surrounded by bats and lingzhi clouds on blue background. The flames made of gold lantern, the eyes and the contour lines of the scales embroidered. Woven satin border. Backed with brown cotton. 38,8 x 72,3 cm (without border). Provenance Private collection, Switzerland

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Fragment of a dragon robe. Silk fabric in kesi technique. 18th/19th c. Round laid dragon and flaming jewel surrounded by bats and lingzhi clouds on blue background. The flames made of gold lantern, the eyes and the contour lines of the scales embroidered. Woven satin border. Backed with brown cotton. 38,8 x 72,3 cm (without border). Provenance Private collection, Switzerland

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VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT KESI WOVEN SILK PANEL 12th-14th century A VERY RARE AND IMPORTANT SILK KESI TAPESTRY PANEL 12-14th century Finely woven with four parallel rows, each row depicting two striding gold lions outlined in red, with curly manes and coats and long tails, their mouths and tongues protruding, their bodies worked in gold thread and edged in red silk, surrounded by dense scrolling foliage issuing large colorful blooms, fruit, and leafy tendrils, the leaves, palmettes and flowers in naturalistic colours, all edged in multi-coloured silk threads with gold detailing, all on a dark brown ground. 63.2cm x 34cm (24 7/8in x 13 3/8in) Footnotes: 十二至十四世紀獅紋緙絲掛幅 Provenance: Acquired in London in June 1997 An important European private collection 來源：於1997年6月得自倫敦歐洲重要私人珍藏 This reversible fragment of a kesi tapestry, woven with polychrome silk and metal threads, is likely to be a section from yardage intended for a garment or from a section cut from a finished garment. Only four other fragments made in the same technique and featuring an identical design are known, two of them in museum collections and at least one in a European private collection. The first illustrated in Spink & Son Ltd, The Art of Textiles, London, 1989, p.15, no.5, is now in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, accession no. 1991.3, also illustrated in James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, Cleveland and New York, 1997/1998, cat.no.19, pp.80-82; a second fragment is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan, accession no. DSC08443, a third fragment was sold in Nagel, Stuttgart, 2 November 2012, and a fourth fragment from a French private collection, is also illustrated in James C.Y. Watt, Anne E. Wardwell, ibid, p.80, fig.28. Results of a C14 test have provided a date for the fragment in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art revealing it to have been made between the 12th to 14th century, suggesting a similar date for the other three fragments, see Spink & Son Ltd. ibid. p. 15, hence suggesting a 12th to 14th century date for the present piece. Dye analysis of the coloured yarns of the Cleveland Museum of Art fragment has revealed that the dyes are natural and that the orange, scarlet and pink are from the safflower plant, the red and dark pink from the bark of a tree and the blue dye from the indigo plant. The kesi technique employs a weaving method known as 'passing warp thread and cutting weft thread' referring to the way in which each colour is woven from a separate bobbin creating discontinuous wefts that are joined using slits, interlocks, dovetail and other methods, rendering the surface pattern of the fabric as if it had been carved or cut by a knife, hence the term kesi or 'cut silk'. This particular weaving method was technically highly demanding and time-consuming, the silk tapestries thus produced very precious and valuable. The golden lions depicted on this fragment, are traditionally considered symbols of royalty. They are depicted with parted manes and tilted heads, features that derive from Persian models dating to the Sasanian period (211-651 AD). These particular kesi fragments are different from other Central Asian silk kesi in the repetition of lions and palmettes in horizontal rows, facing alternate directions in an asymmetrical Chinese-inspired layout. As on the Cleveland fragment, two small flower buds just above the lions heads on the bottom row enclose a debase Arabic letter of the type known as Kufesque, frequently used in the decorative repertory of Central Asia. James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardell note the strong Persian influence in the design of these kesi fragments suggests that they were woven by Uyghurs who were relocated further to the west and who thus transmitted Persian culture and iconography to the region, and exchanged weaving and artistic practices and patterns with Chinese artisans living in Central Asia, see James Y.C. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, Cleveland and New York, 1997/1998, cat.no.19, p.80. To this day, very few early silk kesi tapestries of Tang, Song and Yuan date survive in China. The few extant examples have been recovered mostly from high-ranking Tang dynasty tombs in the far north and north west of China, in Buddhist cave contexts at Dunhuang. Even when kesi weaving flourished in the northwest of China, the technique only gained in popularity during the Song dynasty when it became a highly prized commodity. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

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