GUEST: My grandmother passed
away recently, and I found it
in her attic. She didn't do

any extensive traveling in Asia
that I'm aware of, but I think
her parents may have at some

point.

APPRAISER: So did you know
that the robe was Chinese?

GUEST: I had a feeling.

APPRAISER: Well, it's
Chinese, and it's actually
kind of unusual because
of a number of different

features. One, it's for a child.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But the child
was also probably a eunuch.

GUEST: Oh, really?

APPRAISER: And a
servant in the palace.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: These robes
are pretty standardized
from the 17th century
to the 20th century,

but certain things change, and
one of the things that change
is this area in the robe,

on the bottom. It's called
lishui. Later on, into the 20th
century, this gets longer and

longer and longer, and one of
the reasons why, it was the
easiest part of the robe to

embroider.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: So, basically,
they were cost-cutting
on it. The motif on the
bottom actually represents

the firmament, and then
the dragons are all
couched in gold thread.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And that gold thread
was gold leaf that was actually
wrapped around threads and

used for the embroidery. There
are these round figures with the
flames, and those are celestial

pearls, and there are bats on
the robe, too, but bats just
mean prosperity. The robe is

silk, the embroidery is also
silk. At this period of time,
which was about the 1850s,

there were just a huge
quantity of people attending,
basically, the emperor's every

needs. And it was people
like this that were
doing the clean-up work.

GUEST: Sure.

APPRAISER: Even in these robes.
At auction, I would expect
this robe to sell for around

$2,000.

GUEST: Wow, great.