A family chest in London has yielded an unexpected imperial Chinese treasure.
What Nan Brake’s descendants long treated as a grandmother’s memento is now headed to auction as a group of works with real historical and market weight. Brake, a British translator who lived in Beijing in the 1950s, worked on English-language publications and subtitled films while building a private collection of Chinese art. She acquired Ming dynasty paintings, embroidered Qing garments, and jade ornaments, then brought them back to London by 1960. For roughly 40 years, the objects remained locked away in a chest.
That changed only after an antiquities specialist examined the group. Roseberys in London will offer the collection on May 12 in its Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian Art auction, where the assembly carries a £40,000 estimate.
The most important lot is a turquoise silk Imperial robe dating to the first half of the 19th century. Specialists believe it was likely made for a male member of the emperor’s family, perhaps for wear during the Summer Ceremonial, when the court moved to cooler surroundings outside Beijing. The robe is embroidered with nine five-clawed dragons, a strictly imperial emblem, along with the sun, moon, constellations, clouds, and a wave border. Roseberys has assigned it an upper estimate of £8,000 to £12,000, and Bill Forrest, head of Asian art at the house, said it is likely to attract interest from Chinese textile or silk museums.
The collection’s strongest work on paper is a Ming dynasty image titled “Man and Horse,” a subject long associated with status and mobility. Seals on the lower right link it to Xiang Yuanbian, one of the most celebrated collectors of the Ming period. It is estimated at £4,000 to £6,000.
Another notable piece is a Qing dynasty silk panel that preserves the cut-out templates for six luxury accessory cases, including a watch holder, snuff bottle pouch, and glasses case. Its four-clawed dragons indicate a rank below the imperial level, but the object still speaks to the precision and hierarchy of courtly dress culture.
Brake’s collection is a reminder that private holdings can carry layered histories: personal, political, and imperial all at once. In this case, a family keepsake has opened onto a much larger story about collecting, memory, and the afterlife of China’s court arts.
