Woman's Robe (907–1125): Art, History and Details

Woman's Robe (907–1125) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The robe is embroidered on the back with clouds and paired phoenixes (associated with female members of the imperial family). Single phoenixes and clouds occur at the shoulders. On the front, fragments of another large pair of phoenixes remain. The birds and clouds are set against a scrolling vine pattern embroidered with gold thread, of which only the gold leaf remains. The design was drawn and then embroidered with silk and gold threads on lengths of fabric (gauze backed with silk) before they were cut and seamed. The robe was then lined with silk batting between the layers for warmth. Toward the end of the Liao dynasty, rules for wearing Khitan-style dress (overlapping toward the left) became increasingly relaxed. This may explain the robe's front overlap toward the right, which accords with Chinese custom.

Object facts

• Title: Woman's Robe
• Date: 907–1125
• Culture: China, Liao dynasty (907-1125)
• Type: Garment
• Technique: Silk and gold thread: embroidery on silk gauze ground; silk lining, silk batting
• Dimensions: Overall: 130 x 177 cm (51 3/16 x 69 11/16 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1995.20

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Wardell, Anne E., "Royal Regalia", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 35 no. 08, October 1995
• Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. 1997.
• Shea, Eiren. "The Spread of Gold Thread Production in the Mongol Period: A Study of Gold Textiles in the China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou." Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 50 (2021).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.