surcoat

Calf-length man's surcoat of black satin with front opening, fastened with five gilt metal ball-loop buttons and wide straight sleeves. There are slits on the sides, front and back and the whole coat is lined with black tabby woven fabric. Chinese characters applied all over with gold paint. Four lines of Chinese text run vertically on each front side, five lines on each sleeve, and four lines on the back.

The text in the front indicates that this robe was presented to a Mandarin whose surname was Min, the grandfather of the Marquis of Dayi county in Fujian province. The text praises the grandfather's virtue and ethics in civil administration. He was highly regarded and extolled by both the gentry and the common people of the whole of Chongan county in Fujian province. The coat was very likely a gift given at his retirement or funeral.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk