A blue-ground gauze silk 'nine-dragon' robe, jifu19th century
The blue silk gauze worked in couched gold thread and fine counted stitch with nine five-clawed dragons pursuing flaming pearls amidst trailing clouds interspersed with bats, cranes, wondrous pavilions and the Eight Buddhist Emblems above a terrestrial diagram and lishui stripe separated by ruyi clouds, with similar decoration repeated on the border, collar and horsehoof cuffs. 137.5cm (54 1/8in) long.注脚Provenance: A European private collection