This robe was worn by a man over an undershirt and baggy trousers. It would have been tied at the waist with a brightly colored sash, and the patterned edges of the sash would have hung down quite elegantly.

The narrow top and waist flare out at the hips in a skirt that would reach the ankles and is slit up both sides. The edges and openings of the robe are lined with a light blue unpatterned silk, which extends to form a small piping. The metallic braid trim at the cuffs and neckline, as well as the metallic buttons at the wrists, serve as decorative elements.

The red ground fabric from which the robe was constructed is decorated with flowers enclosed in a lattice. Each flower was worked with metallic-wrapped threads. These supplementary wefts were inserted and worked back and forth within a pattern area and are not continuous across the fabric.

The Textile Museum 1972.24.3
Gift of Alice L. C. Dodge
Silk warps, cotton wefts, metallic-wrapped silk supplementary wefts

© 2003 THE TEXTILE MUSEUM

Each month we will highlight a different textile from the Museum's collection.