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A rare formal court robe of charcoal grey silk gauze , chao'fu, Qing Dynasty, mid-19th century, embroidered with vegetable dyed silk threads, in counted stitch and in couched gilt thread, the upper half with four five-clawed dragons amidst five coloured clouds chasing the pearl of wisdom, above billowing water and wave pattern decorated with peony flowers, the skirt with dragon roundels above pairs of confronting dragons, the horse shoe cuffs similarly worked, approximately 177cm wide cuff to cuff and 139cm high neck to hem
These robes were worn by Mandarins for Royal State occasions.
Provenance: By descent from the family of Ren Clark, the famous American magician. Ren first became exposed to magic in 1910 when 'Willard the Wizard' performed at Cross Plains, Texas, where he grew up. He travelled in China in the early 1900’s and on his return to America set up a Magicians Club in Kansas City. In 1939 he joined the The Society of American Magicians and eventually settled in Fort Worth Texas. In 1944 he ordered a special run of bottled Bourbon Whisky called "Old Ren" as a promotion for his magic shows. His picture appears on the bottle with a motto, "There's Magic In Its Taste”. He also travelled through Polynesia and later performed magic as entertainment at his Polynesian Village restaurant at the Western Hills Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. He became President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians 1947-48 and also developed an Oriental act, owing to the influence of his friend Herbert J. Collings (Col Ling Soo) of London.
