Need help dating robe with possibly offensive print!

B

Birdie

Registered Guest
I have here a very beautiful robe that I've had trouble dating.. hopefully someone can help! I'm really hoping it's pre-wwii, because it has swastikas in the print, which I know was first a symbol of peace/luck, but is obviously sensitive territory when trying to sell it..
The exterior is a satin/silk brocade fabric, which I know could have been produced as early as the 19th century, with a crepe-back satin lining. I can tell it did have a rectangle label sewn on at one point, but of course it's not there now to help!
I really don't know much about it, and I know there isn't much info to go from, but maybe someone has some insight!
Thanks in advance
 

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Can't help you much with dating the robe, but the swastika's origins are very ancient, mainly Eastern, associated with Hinduism or Buddhism, though it appears in other cultures too. As you say it is an auspicious/lucky symbol. I believe it was used in late 19th/early 20th century Western decoration before it was associated with fascism and became such a terrible symbol to our eyes. However its association with fascism or white supremacy does predate WWII, and even slightly predates its adoption by the Nazi party in 1920.

There are two versions of it, left facing and right facing, or clockwise/counter-clockwise, and your cloth has it in both directions. I think the Nazis only ever used the right-facing symbol, and so I suspect your garments' origins are not sinister.

In some Eastern countries swastikas are still used today in the traditional sense and it doesn't have the awful connotations it has here. So even if your robe is later, but not from the West, it may be completely 'innocent'. It is surprising when you travel in a country like India, to see swastikas and realise they are simply good luck symbols over there.

ETA: All that said, however innocent its origins, the people it might appeal to today, are not people I would want to sell to. If it had found it's way to me, I wouldn't want to be involved in selling it, and would try and find something else to do with it.
 
Ruth,
Thank you very much for your informative reply.. that is pretty much what I gathered as well - except you gave me a bit more insight!
 
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