Theatre Costume
mid 18th century
| Place of origin |
Child's frock coat worn in private court theatre performances at the Meleto Castle, Tuscany, ca.1750. The basic fabric coarse linen covered with coral-pink brocade woven with stylized floral design in silver thread. Sleeves short on the underside, and on the outside fall to below the elbow in deep point; the point bordered with silver braid and passementerie. Sides open from the waist to hem and on either side of the openings pleated panels inserted to give fullness to the skirt. Under arms and down edge-to-edge front elaborate arabesque motifs as 'frogging', of black silk bordered with silver strip over a padded base, finished with bright sequins held by silver thread knots. Down centre back and from shoulders four strips of silver braiding, accenting line of body, which meet at the waist and continue into the skirt.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Child's frock coat worn in private court theatre performances at the Meleto Castle, Tuscany, ca.1750. |
| Physical description | Child's frock coat worn in private court theatre performances at the Meleto Castle, Tuscany, ca.1750. The basic fabric coarse linen covered with coral-pink brocade woven with stylized floral design in silver thread. Sleeves short on the underside, and on the outside fall to below the elbow in deep point; the point bordered with silver braid and passementerie. Sides open from the waist to hem and on either side of the openings pleated panels inserted to give fullness to the skirt. Under arms and down edge-to-edge front elaborate arabesque motifs as 'frogging', of black silk bordered with silver strip over a padded base, finished with bright sequins held by silver thread knots. Down centre back and from shoulders four strips of silver braiding, accenting line of body, which meet at the waist and continue into the skirt. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Object history | This costume comes from Meleto Castle in Tuscany, where there is a private theatre, which was opened in 1741. It is a very early example of a costume made specially for the stage and, although probably used in productions of plays, it was also undoubtedly used for masques and other entertainments which included dancing. Sarah Woodcock & Philip Dyer, 1981. Textiles Department of the V&A have confirmed that both fabric and embroidery cannot de dated more precisely that mid 18th century |
| Bibliographic references |
|
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.793-1982 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
| Record created | June 17, 2004 |
| Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest
