PAIR OF SILK MANDARIN'S SLEEVES

PAIR OF SILK MANDARIN'S SLEEVES, late Qing/early Republic, each worked with colourful butterflies fluttering amidst blossoming foliage on an ivory ground, 69cm x 18cm Provenance: Acquired circa 1912 by Admiral John Godfrey, CB, later Director of Naval Intelligence, 1941-1942. Godfrey was the inspiration for "M" in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Thence by descent. In his naval memoirs, Admiral Godfrey describes how, on his first trip, he and his fellow lieutenants on board HMS Bramble, accepted an invitation to lunch from the Governor of Anking, an old school Chinese Mandarin. In accordance with protocol, the three officers were carried up through the city to the Mandarin's residence in sedan chairs. The Mandarin was "a dear old man in a beautiful but simple robe, with a long thin beard and moustache, which has been the fashion in old China for thousands of years". This meeting was a particularly treasured memory for a very simple reason: "It was never to happen again, for within a fortnight the revolution was to shake the world. Nothing would ever be the same again. Our charming host and his staff were rounded up and massacred, while trying to escape over the city walls. We had witnessed the end of an era". When John Godfrey returned from China in 1912, he bought with him a number of artefacts. Amongst these were the exquisite embroidered silk sleeves, which have descended to the vendor.