Collection record · Dress & textiles
Woman's Bridal Dress: Dragon Jacket, Pleated Skirt, Tabard
The collection record classifies this work as garment. It is dated 1800s. Recorded culture or place: China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Woman's Bridal Dress: Dragon Jacket, Pleated Skirt, Tabard
- Date
- 1800s
- Culture / origin
- China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
- Materials and technique
- Silk, gilt-metal thread; embroidery
- Dimensions
- Overall: 104.2 x 153 cm (41 x 60 1/4 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 2005.135
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This three-piece bridal dress includes a dragon jacket, a pleated skirt, and a tabard, a short loose-fitting sleeveless vest. The ensemble reveals the high rank of her husband even though it did not fall under the scope of the Qing Dynasty sumptuary laws.
The woman's bridal trousseau contains a short red coat with side-fastening and wide sleeves. It is decorated with ten dragons and other cosmological motifs commonly found on court dress. The presence of ten dragons indicates that the wife's husband was a high-ranking official.
The dragon jacket was worn over a pleated turquoise skirt, with six embroidered panels which feature dragons in the front and back.
A three-quarter-length sleeveless tabard completes the outfit, with a front closure, open sides secured by cloth bands, and a colorful tasseled fringe around the hem. Dragons, water, and clouds are embroidered on the silk ground. In addition, a rank badge applied on the front and back shows that the bride married a man of high official rank.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Elizabeth Wade Sedgwick · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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