Sitter: Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo (Ku Weichün) (1888-1985)

Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo (Ku Weichün) (1888-1985) studied at the Anglo-Chinese College, Shanghai, and went on to study at Columbia University in the USA where he made a great name for himself. He was appointed Chinese Delegate to the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919. At the conference he was one of the chief advocates of the refusal to sign the Treaty. In 1919, he was appointed Chinese Delegate to the League of Nations. At the time of this portrait in 1921, he was Chinese Minister to Great Britain.

He is photographed here in the recently designed Chinese diplomatic uniform he wore to a State Ball, at Buckingham Palace on 7 July. He wears a coat of navy blue cloth, embroidered with distinctive corn sheaves in gold with gilt buttons, engraved with the letters RC (Republique Chinoise) in the centre, surrounded by the Chinese motif symbolizing five blessings. His costume was supplied by the renowned London tailoring firm of Ede and Ravenscroft Ltd. In his hand he holds a a cocked hat edged with white ostrich plumes.

Wellington Koo also wears the Star and Sash of The Precious Brilliant Golden Grain (Republic of China); Star of The Golden Grain (Republic of China) and the Star of The Order of George I (Greece).

A 1921 press profile of him stated that “he speaks English perfectly, he knows English literature widely, and he has that easy quality of the man of the world, which we associate more with the West than with the East… Altogether China could not have had a man more qualified to represent it, at a time when she, like Europe and, indeed, the whole world, is being remade.”

Image published in:

Biog: Chinese diplomat and politician; international statesman; Chinese Minister to Great Britain 1921; Chinese Ambassador in London 1941-1946.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Koo

Date: 7 July 1921

Occasion: The State Ball, Buckingham Palace, 7 July 1921.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 160 New Bond Street, London, W.

Descr: FL standing.

Costume: Chinese Diplomatic Uniform: coat/coatee (?) of navy blue cloth, embroidered with corn sheaves in gold with gilt buttons, engraved with the letters RC (Republique Chinoise) in the centre, surrounded by the Chinese motif symbolizing five blessings.

Costume Supplier: Ede and Ravenscroft Ltd., address, & CK

Orders, Decorations & Medals: Star (and sash?) of The Precious Brilliant Golden Grain (Republic of China); Star of The Golden Grain (Republic of China); Star of The Order of George I (Greece).

Furniture & Props: -

Photographer: Lafayette Ltd., 160 New Bond Street, London.

Evidence of photographer at work: retouched clamp visible behind the sitter.

No of poses: 2. [see also two poses of wife]

Copyright: V&A

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Provenance: Pinewood Studios; acquired 1989.

References:

Biog: Who's Who; Hugh B. O'Neill, Companion to Chinese History, Oxford, 1987; ck also Howard L. Boorman ed., Biographical Dictionary of Republican China, New York 1967-1971.

Occasion: The Times, 8 July 1921, p 14a.

Costume: Nigel Arch and Joanna Marschner, Splendour at Court: Dressing for Royal Occasions since 1700, London, 1987, p 92.

Costume Supplier: -

Orders, Decorations & Medals: R. Werlich, Orders and Decorations of All Nations, Washington, 1990.

Reproduced: -

Acknowledgements: (Orders) David Bownes.