Lot Essay
The golden brown color of this robe is probably the "tawny yellow" color which was appropriate for members of the imperial clan other than the emperor and his immediate family. See Gary Dickinson and Linda Wrigglesworth, Imperial Wardrobe, London, 1990, p. 161, where the authors illustrate a brown-ground dragon robe and note that, "The manuscript based on the Huangchao liqi tushi appears to have given members of the imperial family the choice of either blue or brown court robes. Brown was considered to be an off-shade of yellow".