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Rare Meiji Era Dress Uniform for Official Court Functions with…
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Auckland
Date:
17-Nov-2009
Lot No.
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Description:
Rare Meiji Era Dress Uniform for Official Court Functions with dress sword, hat, lacquered hat box and suitcase. This is the highest ranking uniform next to the Emperor's and worn by the first Prime Minister of Japan, Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909), who served also as president of the Privy Council and president of the House of Peers. He helped draft the constitution of the Empire of Great Japan (promulgated in 1889), and played a crucial role in the building of modern Japan. He formed cabinet four times. At the end of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), he became ambassador plenipotentiary in making peace and founded the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government Party) in 1900 and became president. In 1905 he became the first resident general in Korea and he was assassinated in Harbin, Manchuria, China in 1909. Black woollen formal court uniform 'daireifuku' consisting of trousers, waistcoat, jacket and hat richly decorated with gold braid designs of scrolling and 'kiri mon' (paulonia badges) and trimming, together with gilt dress sword and hat with white ostrich feathers. A lacquered metal hat box bearing the initials Hi and a suitcase for the uniform and sword embossed with the same initials. The uniform was worn by both the Civil Service and the Military, and by the nobility of Japan on special Court occasions from 1871 to early 1940s. Members of the Imperial household also wore versions of it (see contemporary postcard enclosed). The rank of the wearer is indicated by the number of petals on each of the gold sets of paulonia leaves, the 'kiri mon' of the Imperial Household are emblazoned over the jacket in gold braid and also on the gold buttons. The number of petals indicate that the uniform is for civilians of the highest rank. Portraits of Ito Hirobumi show him wearing both the 'bunkan daireifuku' and later the 'yushakusha daireifuku' without the gold braid on the jacket and with epaulettes, fitting his princely status. For the first decades of the Meiji period the uniforms were made by Henry Pool, Saville Row, London, who supplied the royal families of most nations. Later they were made in Osaka, and like this uniform, are of somewhat finer quality than those made in Saville Row
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Unclassified