WEBVTT

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

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

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point.

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

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GUEST: I had a feeling.

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

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features. One, it's for a child.

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GUEST: Okay.

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APPRAISER: But the child
was also probably a eunuch.

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GUEST: Oh, really?

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APPRAISER: And a
servant in the palace.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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

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

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

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

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embroider.

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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

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

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GUEST: Mm-hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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GUEST: Sure.

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

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$2,000.

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GUEST: Wow, great.