Brocade Robe

Unofficial robe of a high ranking Vietnamese man. Probably from the late Nguyen Dynasty as the robe is in the form of clothing from that period.  Full-length garment with front over flap closing on the right, fastened with five amber-colored round toggle buttons. The plain dark blue ground is brocaded with flower and herb pattern. Brocade robes were introduced to eliminate the intense workmanship required for embroidery or kosu weaving. However, brocade garments required a high degree of precision, evident in this robe, as the yardage had to be garment specific and the two sides needed to be perfectly matched.