Night Gown (schlafrock) from the wardrobe of Peter I

Silk: China, 17th century

Tailoring: Workshop Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin, 1690s

Blue patterned silk (damask) with a pattern of a grape vine with jerboas on it

Back length: 186 cm

Photo: A. Lavrentyev

The Tsar would wear this robe in the mornings even in the palace village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the silk trade was a state monopoly and Chinese patterned silk was purchased for the treasury. It was used to make expensive garments for the nobility and, starting from 1690s, by decree of Tsar Peter Alekseevich, flags and banners of regiments were sewn from silk of different colours.