The Jiaqing Emperor (1796-1820) ruled over China for 24 years as the seventh monarch of the Qing dynasty. He was not a popular figure, and his reign was marked by political and economic upheaval, including two rebellions and rampant piracy that stifled trade.
This formal winter robe may have belonged to his second wife, the empress consort Xiaoherui. Fashioned from fine silk velvet, it features nine four-clawed dragons. In Qing-dynasty China, only the imperial family was allowed to wear yellow garments patterned with dragons. Five-clawed dragons were even more exclusive — restricted to the emperor, his sons or a ruling empress. Based on the style of the motifs, we can date this coat to the 1790s, when Jiaqing first came to power.
More than a century later, another influential woman owned this coat. Jane Dahlman Ickes (1913-1952), second wife of Harold Ickes, Secretary of Interior to President Franklin Roosevelt, wore it often. The robe was altered for Ickes (or possibly the original fabric had never been tailored for wear): a Mandarin collar was added, the sleeves shortened and the front closure adjusted. Luckily, the pattern of mountains and waves at the hem was not cut off, just turned under.
This coat is very rare — one of the only velvet dragon robes that survives today — and a fascinating vestige of two women who inhabited powerful levels of their societies.
