Manchu Woman's Unofficial Informal Robe

Designed for a young woman, this robe features a yellow scheme composed of a grid pattern with a scattered design of blue peonies against a white ground. The cuffs are embroidered with a multicolored peony scroll pattern, while the front, side, and cuff bands are embroidered with seasonal flowers, including grass orchid, peony, and plum, with bats and cicadas against a black ground. The yellow grid pattern features swastikas, a symbol adopted by Germany’s Nazi (National Socialist) party in 1920. In this example, however, many years before that negative association, the symbol creates a pun of sorts. Pronounced “wan” in Chinese, it sounds like “ten thousand.” The swastika ground can be seen as a multiplier of the wealth and honor represented by the flowers times ten thousand.