Portrait of a gentleman in a garden wearing a brocaded silk Japanese bathrobe

Maes's Portrait of a Gentleman in a Japanese Bathrobe from 1680 depicts a sitter wearing the exotic silk robes imported from Japan through the Dutch East India Company—a luxury item that became a fashion accessory among Amsterdam's wealthiest merchants and a vehicle for ambitious portrait display. The Japanese bathrobe or banyan was worn as informal indoor clothing by affluent Dutch men who could afford the expensive imported fabric, and its appearance in portraiture asserted both wealth and cosmopolitan engagement with VOC trade. Maes's late portrait manner—influenced by Van Dyck and Flemish Baroque portraiture—gave these fashion-conscious Dutch merchants the international prestige imagery they desired. The silk robe's complex patterns and textures provided a technical challenge that Maes met with the material mastery he had developed over three decades of portrait practice.

The brocaded silk robe is rendered with careful attention to its exotic pattern and lustrous texture, demonstrating Maes's skill in painting luxurious fabrics.