Woman's informal coat with scenes from Dream of the Red Chamber

This loose-fitting coat typifies a comfortable style for women to wear over a long skirt or trousers in the daytime during the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. The coat is elaborately decorated with eight embroidered medallions depicting dramatized scenes from the famous novel Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin (1719–1764). It tells of a young boy named Jia Baoyu, who dreamed of marrying his beloved cousin Lin Daiyu, and was instead promised by his family to marry a different girl of compatible social status. Unaware, Baoyu went happily to the wedding hall, but seeing that the bride was not his sweetheart, Baoyu despaired, while Daiyu later died isolated and brokenhearted.

The story has been adapted in the fine arts and in countless stage and film productions. On this robe, a fine example of embroidery, the two medallions on the lower rear depict a highlight of the story, known as “burying fallen flowers,” a hint at the traumatic life of Daiyu. In this scene, she holds a basket carrying the fallen petals she swept up out of pity, off in search of a spot to bury them, while nearby is the naïve Baoyu who wants to share a letter with her.

Dream of the Red Chamber makes its debut in Western opera in a San Francisco Opera production in the fall of 2016.