Qing jifu – £15,000 at Lawrences.
For the most important ceremonies and rituals, high-ranking Chinese officials along with the royal family would don the chao fu or full court dress. At the Qing court a whole range of garments and paraphernalia were associated with the chao fu – a hat, collar, necklace, girdle and boots – but the most important were the chao pao and jifu, the court robes. Their use was restricted to high-ranking officials and persons.
Robes with an apricot-yellow ground were reserved for the crown prince, his consorts and the crown princess. The example at Woolley & Wallis, embroidered with five-clawed dragons, bats holding peaches above waves and Buddhist emblems, was from the late Qing period and uncut. Estimated at £3000-5000, it sold at £17,000.