Robe de chambre, 1720-50, Dutch or British; of Chinese blue silk damask, 1650-1700 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

By the 17th century, European men wore loose gowns like this to relax at home with family or entertain friends or business associates. Called 'robe de chambre' in France, these alternatives to the formal fitted suit were made of different fabrics according to the wearer's needs and tastes. The form and luxurious fabric of this rare gown reveal the growing importance of global trade at the time. The loosely cut style of this man's informal robe is based on that of the Japanese kimono. Robes like this became popular in Europe from the mid-17th century, brought back by members of the East India Company, and by the 1670s European tailors were making them. The exact geographic and cultural source of the style was not generally well known in England, where they were called 'Indian gowns' when made of any non-European fabric, for example, Indian cottons, Chinese or Indian silks.

This nightgown is a striking and rare example, in very good condition for its age, made from blue silk damask woven in China for import into Europe. Such silks were primarily intended for furnishing, and appear in merchants' records as 'bed damasks'; the length of their pattern repeat was displayed to best advantage in the long drop of bed curtains. A silk damask of closely similar design to this was used to furnish a room in the summer palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Schlosshof, in 1725 (now in MAK in Vienna).