Chapan thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Chapan

Coat
1850-1900 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These outsize buttons, four in all, decorate the front of a magenta silk coat from Chinese Turkestan, present-day Xinjiang Region. The gold filigree work set with turquoise and pearls is finished with a coral bead and the entire button is secured through a small loop with twisted wire. The buttons fasten across the chest, leaving the skirt part of the coat open. This facilitates movement, allowing the embroidered garments worn beneath, as well as the coat's bright blue cotton lining, to be seen. The coat forms the top layer of an outfit that was collected between 1928 and 1932 in Khotan. The ensemble shows a mix of stylistic elements and materials from China, India and Afghanistan; it can be compared with other garments in the V & A which come from culturally, though not politically, allied regions.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleChapan (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Silk satin damask; embroidery in silk and metallic threads; trimmed with velvet and brocade
Brief description
Outer coat for a Uygur woman (chapan), silk satin damask with gold buttons, Khotan (Hetian), Xinjiang, China, 1850-1900
Physical description
Outer coat for a Uygur woman (chapan) of magenta silk satin damask, embroidered in chain stitch (machine) with roundels containing floral designs and with sprays of flowers. The colours are blue, red, yellow, green and white. Sleeve-ends, neck and hem have stylised wave pattern, and a half inch edging of tissue woven in black silk and metal thread runs all round. The neck, and sleeve-ends have a border of purple silk velvet, embroidered with couched work in gold and silver thread, and at the neck are four large conical gold buttons. The coat is lined with royal blue woollen damask.
Dimensions
  • Length: 135cm
  • Width: 178cm
Style
Gallery label
Ornament - silver with coral beads - buttons Khotan; 19th century These garments, cut from Chinese silks and edged with Indian brocades, are embroidered with motifs which recall those on Chinese ladies' robes. However, worked in the local chain-stitch, they combine with the cut and materials to produce a colourful regional costume. One European observer noted that the bands of brocade sewn on the front of women's clothes denoted, by their number, the marital status of the wearer.
Credit line
Given by Captain George Sherriff
Object history
This coat came into the Museum as part of a set with a blue tunic, green trousers, red waistcoat, scarlet leather leggings, a tasselled hat and silver and coral plait decorations. George Sherriff (1898-1967), the renowned plant hunter who donated them to the Museum, recorded that he acquired them in Khotan, a town in today's Xinjiang Region of China.
(Registered File number 1898/1932)
Production
From the Khotan region (modern Hetian/Hotan)
Subjects depicted
Summary
These outsize buttons, four in all, decorate the front of a magenta silk coat from Chinese Turkestan, present-day Xinjiang Region. The gold filigree work set with turquoise and pearls is finished with a coral bead and the entire button is secured through a small loop with twisted wire. The buttons fasten across the chest, leaving the skirt part of the coat open. This facilitates movement, allowing the embroidered garments worn beneath, as well as the coat's bright blue cotton lining, to be seen. The coat forms the top layer of an outfit that was collected between 1928 and 1932 in Khotan. The ensemble shows a mix of stylistic elements and materials from China, India and Afghanistan; it can be compared with other garments in the V & A which come from culturally, though not politically, allied regions.
Bibliographic references
  • Ward, Amada. 'Gifts from Xinjiang', in Orientations, August, 1988, Fig. 6, pp. 18-22.
  • Crill, Rosemary, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson; with contributions from Anna Jackson and Charlotte Horlyck Dress in detail from around the world London: V&A Publications, 2002, pp. 54-55.
Collection
Accession number
T.31-1932

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Record createdSeptember 30, 2010
Record URL
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