Dear Framm,

You have a Chinese silk robe woven by hand in first half 20th century. Although the imperial dragon is stitched on the robe it is not imperial in origin I believe. Late Guangxu / republic period Dragon with five claws was used on more objects and lost his imperial importance. You see the five claw dragon appearing on many more Chinese export objects. I believe this robe was never been original worn by anyone but made for export to the west. It is quite roughly made to need demand I believe. Nevertheless it is handmade and made of silk and looks impressive. I think there will be bidders on it if it came to an auction.

Regards,
Simon Breider