AN IMPERIAL MIDNIGHT-BLUE GROUND FUR-TRIMMED SILK SURCOAT, BUFU 19th centuryAN IMPERIAL MIDNIGHT-BLUE GROUND FUR-TRIMMED SILK SURCOAT, BUFU19th century The midnight-blue silk ground finely tailored with four elaborate roundels worked in gold and silver thread, each with a side-facing five-clawed dragon pursuing the flaming pearl amidst a profusion of leafy meander interspersed with lotus flowers, all above crashing waves and within a border of ruyi clouds, the interior lined in red silk and trimmed in brown fur.145cm (57in) wide.十九世紀 御製石青緞繡五爪團龍紋補服Provenance: an Italian private collection來源：意大利私人收藏Only Court members holding the rank of Imperial Prince of the First and Second Rank wore surcoats decorated with four side-facing 'dragon' roundels. Surcoats were made of different weights of material according to the season and those lined with fur were appropriate for wear during the colder months. The use of the gold and silver thread stood out from the surface as their couching presented a dense mass of reflective material.Compare with a related blue-ground surcoat, Jiaqing or Daoguang, with four side-facing 'dragon' roundels embroidered with floss silk and gold-wrapped threads, from the University of Alberta Museums, illustrated by J.Vollmer and J.Simcox, Emblems of Empire. Selections from the Mactaggart Art Collection, Edmonton CA, 2009, pp.72-73.A related blue-ground surcoat, mid-19th century, embroidered with four five-clawed dragon roundels, was sold at Christie's London, 7 November 2017, lot 347. See also a dark blue silk surcoat, 18th/19th century, decorated with four 'dragon' roundels in wrapped gold and silver thread, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3351.is_parse: 20230413image: yuzhan_bonhams_item.jpgsold_price_type: £