Blue Robe, Dragon Throne

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This polychrome figure in a blue robe with a long beard sits enthroned on a tall chair. His golden face is grave and composed, the black hair combed smoothly back, a moustache above the lip and the beard gathered into a single point on his chest; long earlobes touch his shoulders as he gazes straight ahead. The sapphire robe is dense with ornament: a great green dragon coils in a roundel at the belly, two brown scale-textured discs mirror each other on the chest, a green dragon rears at each knee, and cloud patterns roll in layers across the hem. Both hands rest flat upon his knees, his bare golden feet set at the chair's front edge. The throne is ceremonial: a purple back panel floating with blue clouds, a golden beast mask at its crest, dragons winding up the black-and-gold posts, red tassels hanging at the sides; below, the dark brown gilt platform carries a tortoise entwined with a red dragon at its front centre. Frontal, symmetrical, imperial — a piece for the principal seat of a hall or an honoured place of enshrinement.