One Hundred Cranes Imperial Robe
International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Burlington House, London, 1935-36, No.2659 Ill.
Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, February 18-December 2, 1939.
Costumes from the Forbidden City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, February-July 1945.
Exhibition of Chinese textiles, The Pasadena (CA) Art Institute. February 5-March 23, 1952.
Chinese Embroidery, China House Gallery, New York. March 15-May 28, 1978.
The One Hundred Cranes Imperial Robe accompanied art lover Prince Guo (1697-1738) to his grave. In 1783, Prince Guo was buried with this robe and many other textiles for his afterlife. Artists enhanced the formal style of this dragon robe with dense, complex embroidery, seen on the front and reverse of the robe. They achieved the detail of a painting, covering the silk damask fabric with dragons, pine trees, waves, cranes, and peaches. These images carried positive meanings that would have blessed the prince.
Art historians initially thought this robe belonged to one of Prince Guo's consorts buried in the same tomb. However, conservators found that the prince's robe had been altered: the center vents were sewn closed, the side vents opened, and mid-sleeve bands were added. These alterations converted this to a woman's robe, according to Qing dress codes. The seller likely made the changes to meet prospective buyers' preferences after the robe was uncovered in the 1930s.
Tomb of Prince Guo (Guo Qinwang), Beijing, China, 1738-early 1900s;
Fu Shu-ta, Beijing, China, before 1935;
Purchase through Laurence Sickman by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1935.
Lindsay Hughes, “The Kuo Ch’in Wang Textiles,” Gazette des Beaux-arts (Sept. 1943, Feb.1945):129-148, 65-82; ill. fig. 2,3,4,5.
Exhibition of Chinese textiles (The Pasadena (CA) Art Institute, February 3, 1952), 4, pl I, pl II.
Jean Mailey, “Embroidery of Imperial China,” catalog. No. 23, (New York: China Institute, 1978): ill.’d., 44-45.
J. Mailey, Chinese Embroidery, no. 25(China House Gallery, New York. March 15-May 28, 1978), 44-45.
Young Yang Chung, The Art of Oriental Embroidery. History Aesthetics, & Techniques (New York: Scribner, 1979): pls. C-14, C-15.
Colin Mackenzie, with contributions by Ling-En Lu, Masterworks of Chinese art: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2011), 94, (repro.).
