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Jiasha (kesaya) Buddhist priest mantle
Chinese
Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), probably Kangxi (1662-1722) or Qianlong (1736-1796) period
1662–1796
Medium/Technique
Silk and gilt paper strips
Dimensions
Height x width (across the bottom): 111.8 × 328.3 cm (44 × 129 1/4 in.)
Height x width (across the top): 227.3 cm (89 1/2 in.)
Height x width (across the top): 227.3 cm (89 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
John Ware Willard Fund
Accession Number2018.3188
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
ProvenanceAbout 1929, possibly on the market, Beijing. By 1945, possibly in a private American collection [see note]. 2005, sold by Haig Gallery, Rochester, MI, to Alan Kennedy (dealer), Santa Monica, CA; 2018, sold by Alan Kennedy to the MFA. (Accession date: December 12, 2018)
NOTE: This is one of four nearly identical theatrical robes in American collections. In the exhibition catalogue “Costumes from the Forbidden City” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1945), p. 14, Alan Priest noted that there were at least eight, and perhaps more, of this type of robe on the Peking (Beijing) market in 1929. Of those, he wrote, two were acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one was at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and one—possibly the present example—was in private hands. All four may have been brought to the United States around 1929.
NOTE: This is one of four nearly identical theatrical robes in American collections. In the exhibition catalogue “Costumes from the Forbidden City” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1945), p. 14, Alan Priest noted that there were at least eight, and perhaps more, of this type of robe on the Peking (Beijing) market in 1929. Of those, he wrote, two were acquired for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one was at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and one—possibly the present example—was in private hands. All four may have been brought to the United States around 1929.