Dressing for the Great Game.
This garment comes from the collection of Central Asian garments of Robert Shaw, the painter and explorer.
In the winter of 1868/69 he wrote 'Kashgar, Tueday April 6th - This morning the Sircar (Treasurer) brought me as a parting present from the King .... a robe of crimson satin, gorgeous with gold and embroidery....'
Shaw was the first Englishman to visit Yarkand and Kashgar, and he related his adventures in his book Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar. He described the splendid clothes he encountered and mentioned on several occasions receiving gifts of coats and other garments.

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Robert Shaw Visits to High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar