any asian experts?

M

mcgrawandmcqueen

Registered Guest
Here is another piece that has me puzzled. This is made of a seagreen wool entirely lined in linen. All the embroidery is wool and done in a crewl stitch that I have forgottent he name of ( one that is used as a filler with cushiony loops). The tiny frogs closures are made of a linen like cord. Then there is the issue of what the calligraphy says on the back. Is this chinese or japanese?
My gut tell me this is from the 1940's or maybe the 30's...
Thanks for any help anyone can provide-Lorinda
 

Attachments

  • woolen asian robe 1.JPG
    woolen asian robe 1.JPG
    61.3 KB · Views: 303
Thanks for making me reexamnine this Chris!I just looked and there are no darts for the bust . This is fairly small though and would fit a size 4 woman. Here is the back in case someone can read Japanese or Chinese.
Lorinda
 

Attachments

  • woolen asian robe 2.JPG
    woolen asian robe 2.JPG
    65 KB · Views: 292
Lorinda--

The characters ("radicals") are Chinese. According to my daughter, the translation of each is (and the phrase is read in this sequence):

upper right="new"
lower right=? (close to the character for "student", but not quite)
upper left="outgoing, output"
lower left="product, merchandise"

The meaning changes depending on the combinations of radicals used. She says the two on the left mean "product" when they're together; she's not sure about the two on the right, because the lower right one seems to be missing a piece. So, the closest she could come is "new _____ product"

Maybe the jacket was on-the-job attire, to promote a business or product?
 
Thank you Carrie and your daughter as well. It is an interesting piece from the material to the color and I am curious to learn as much as I can.
Well over 10 years ago the MFA in Boston and the Fitchburg (MA) Art Museum had exhibits on a particular type of chinese portraits done on silk. According to what the men wore and the decorative motifs on their clothing you could tell what dynasty they were from and whether they were warriors or civil servants. My husband and I had one of these paintings and learned that because he showed serpent pieces ie tail , head, claws etc on four parts of his robe and he had a jade finial on his flattened cap he was a civil servant of the 7th degree. When I saw this robe I thought the serpent and calligraphy symbolize what the maker is tring to communicate. If the calligraphy is saying something about new product and this is an advertising piece it helps me put this into context.
After reading the posts over the last several weeks I am struck with how knowledgable your daughter is!! Makes me think my son shouldn't be taking German in college...lol...
-Lorinda
 
That painting on silk sounds fascinating...

My daughter is a bit of a polygot--though not really fluent in anything yet, and not sure what she is going to major in, because all the cultures/languages are so fascinating to her. She has a really good memory, so the written Chinese is much easier for her than for many English-speaking learners, but the spoken part is REALLY tough (unlike a mispronounced word in English, which just sounds weird, a mispronounced word in Chinese means something completely different!)

Good luck learning more about this jacket--I look forward to hearing what you discover...
 
Well Carrie, I put myself out on a limb and asked my exhusband's fiancee who is fluent in Mandarin to translate...relationships become so complex after divorces..She learned to read,write and speak it in college and has used it for the last 25 years negotiating business in China. Lets see what she has to say. Your daughter sounds like a multi talented young woman. How wonderful to have so many options in life!-Lorinda
 
if it was made for the western market, it could just be a throwaway/tongue-in-cheek message/slogan, knowning that the vast majority of westerners would not be able to read it, but would be fascinated by the strange characters.

seems '40s to me. i don't think it would necessarily need darts to be for a woman. chinese robes were loose and boxy, for men and women.

cheers :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top