A Manchu Official's Winter Hat 'jiguan' with rank finial, late Qing dynasty.
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The black silk crown covered with a red silk cording extended from the finial. Black velvet brim. The blue solid finial signifying the forth grade rank. Inside diameter 17 cm. The finials' height c. 5 cm. The hat marked to the lining.
Wear.
Provenance
From the Collection of Gustaf Wallenberg (1863-1939). Gustaf Wallenberg was Swedish business man, diplomat and active politician. He was the son of André Oscar Wallenberg, founder of Stockholm Enskilda Bank (today SEB, and grandfather of Raoul Wallenberg (1912-47?). After a career in the Swedish Navy he turned to the business world and was very active in striving to better the transoceanic shipping industry. Something that came in handy when he in 1908 successfully negotiated with the Qing court in Beijing about a friendship, trade and navigation treaty. The collection was acquired between 1906 and 1918 when Wallenberg was the Swedish Envoyé in Tokyo. From 1907 he was also accredited for Beijing and came to spend time in both countries as the Swedish Ambassador. Mr Wallenberg came to be in China in dramatic part of its history, when a lot of items came on the market and when the golden era of collecting Chinese works of art started in Europe. Thence by descent.
Exhibitions
Compare a similar hat at the Museum of Art, University of Oregon, from the Warner Collection of Oriental Art. Depicted on page 78, pl 3:20. In John E Vollmer; Ruling from the Dragon Throne. Costume of the Qing dynasty.
Literature
Bukowskis sold a part of this collection previously at Bukowskis Sale 554 in 2009 and Bukowskis Sale 556, 2010.
More information
The black and white images are from Temple Court, the Wallenberg residence in Japan.