textile art

Woman’s informal robe

The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), the power behind China’s Manchu throne, is known to have disliked the imperial yellow color, judging it unflattering to her complexion. She is thought to have personally designed this robe’s wide, dark borders to reduce the reflection of the yellow silk on her face.

Made of lightweight gauze, the robe was worn during the summer and is decorated with a pattern of wanshou medallions that wish the wearer “ten thousand ten thousand longevities,” or a very, very long life. This robe is one of more than six hundred garments and accessories collected in China in the early 1900s by Charlotte Hill Grant.

Asian Art