RARE DRAGON ROBE FROM EMBROIDERED PURPLE SILK SATIN FOR A GENTLEMAN China, Qing dynasty, late 19th ct. L. 142 cm, B. 123 cm Vivid purple satin silk from good quality embroidered with colored silk and darkened silvery metallic threads. Bordered by a fabric with metal threads with flowers on ice pattern. Five gilt brass spherical buttons. Nine (one on the understep) five-clawed dragons among clouds and red bats carrying swastika in their mouths. Cranes and Shou medallions suggest that this robe was made for a birthday. In the waves, along with numerous treasures, are dragon heads , each spitting out a tray of offerings on a cloud. Embroidery and materials are of amazingly high quality and suggest that this robe was made for a person of the highest social standings. From an old north German private collection, acquired before 2000 - Cf.: Purple dragonrobe, Museum of New Zealand, inv. Nr. FE001939. Purple dragonrobe, H. Heroldova: The Dragon Robe as a Professional Dress of the Qing Dynasty Scholar-Official (The Naprstek Museum Collection), Prague, 2016, p. 64. Slight traces of use, a few loose embroidery threads, sleeve extensions and cuffs missing