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Not currently on display at the V&A

Waistcoat

1610-1615 (made), 1620 (altered)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
This fine early 17th-century woman's waistcoat is particularly significant because it is shown being worn in the Portrait of Margaret Layton (museum no. E.214-1994), attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561-1636) and displayed alongside it. Waistcoats were long-sleeved upper garments, opening down the front and fitted at the waist using inserted gores. They were often made of linen and splendidly decorated as in this example.

Ownership & Use
Margaret Laton or Margaret Layton – What's in a name? When the V&A acquired the jacket and portrait of Margaret Layton in 1994, we used the version ‘Laton’ following the example set in 1933 by V&A curator Albert Kendrick. However, according to documents and monuments of the Layton family in Rawdon, Yorkshire, and the Dictionary of National Biography, the name was always spelled with a ‘y’. We are now making corrections in V&A labels, brochures, publications and on the V&A website.

In the portrait, Margaret Layton wears the waistcoat with an Italian needlelace collar and cuffs, a black velvet gown, a red silk petticoat and a whitework apron. As with many women of this period, we know very little about her life, other than her recorded connections to her father and husband.

Materials & Making
The waistcoat has long, tight sleeves, narrow shoulder wings, semi-circular cuffs and a small curved collar at the back neck, dating it to about 1610. Made of linen, it is hand sewn and lined with coral silk taffeta. Originally the jacket was fastened with pink silk ribbons. In the 1620s, an edging of spangled silver-gilt bobbin lace was added. Fragments remain of the original silk ribbons used for fastening. The waistcoat is embroidered in detached buttonhole, stem, plaited braid, chain, couching and dot stitches, with knots and speckling, with coloured silk threads, silver-gilt threads and spangles.

Time
Although the waistcoat was made about 1610, the portrait was painted more than 10 years later. By this time, waistlines had risen. Margaret Layton adapted to the new style by raising her petticoat and covering the lower half of the waistcoat.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Linen, embroidered with coloured silks, silver and silver-gilt thread, lined with silk
Brief description
Margaret Layton's waistcoat of linen, embroidered with coloured silks, silver and silver-gilt thread, made 1610-1615, altered 1620, England
Physical description
A woman's waistcoat with long, close-fitting sleeves, narrow shoulder wings, semi-circular cuffs and a small curved collar at the back neck. The torso is cut in three pieces: two front side pieces and one back panel with five gores inserted at the lower edge to give ease over the hips. The sleeves are cut in two pieces with a slit at the wrist. The whole garment is lined with coral silk taffeta.

The whole garment is embroidered in an all over pattern of scrolling vines in silver-gilt plaited braid stitch from which spring a variety of flowers, fruits and insects worked in coloured silks and silver-gilt thread. In the 1620s, an edging of spangled silver-gilt bobbin lace was added. Fragments remain of the original silk ribbons used to fasten the waistcoat.

Embroidered using detached buttonhole, stem, plaited braid, chain, couching and dot stitches, with knots and speckling, with coloured silk threads, silver-gilt threads and spangles..
Dimensions
  • Back of neck to waist length: 51cm
  • Display width: 60cm
  • Chest circumference: 79.5cm
  • Max when mounted on torso height: 63cm
  • Max when mounted on torso width: 67cm
  • Max when mounted on torso depth: 40cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 16/02/2001 by KB display dims as currently mounted - tally with Avril Hart's dimensions taken in 1998, apart from height, changed from 79 by KB to represent more likely h of headless stockman. n.b. other dimensions seemed rather generous when measured by KB, but dependent on padding so not changed on db.
Style
Production typeUnique
Gallery label
British Galleries: This jacket is an example of formal daywear worn by wealthy Englishwomen in the early 17th century. The embroidery is based on designs from pattern books, herbals and emblem books. It is of a very high quality and probably professional work. Although this one was luxurious, a jacket of this type would not have been the most formal or expensive garment in Margaret Laton's wardrobe.(27/03/2003)
Credit line
Acquired with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund and contributors to the Margaret Layton Fund
Object history
This waiscoat was owned and worn by Margaret Layton (probably born about 1590, died 1641), wife of Francis Layton (born 1577, died 1661), Yeoman of the Jewel House during the reign of James I, Charles I and Charles II. An portrait by an unknown artist, dating from the 1620s, shows Margaret Layton wearing this waistcoat.

When the V&A acquired the waistcoat and portrait of Margaret Layton in 1994, the version ‘Laton’ was used following the example set in 1933 by V&A curator Albert Kendrick. However, according to documents and monuments of the Layton family in Rawdon, Yorkshire, and the Dictionary of National Biography, the name was always spelled with a ‘y’.

Purchased. Registered File number 1994/644.

Historical significance: This demonstrates very high quality embroidery, most likely professional. The fact that the waistcoat is complete and unaltered is unusual
Historical context
This waistcoat is a fine example of the type of garment worn for formal day wear for Englishwomen of the late 16th and early 17th century. In the portrait, the waistcoat is worn with an Italian needlelace collar and cuffs, a black velvet gown, a red silk petticoat and a whitework apron. The embroidery pattern is typically English of the late 16th and early 17th century featuring a variety of plants, flowers, birds and insects based on images in pattern books, herbals and emblem books.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
This fine early 17th-century woman's waistcoat is particularly significant because it is shown being worn in the Portrait of Margaret Layton (museum no. E.214-1994), attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561-1636) and displayed alongside it. Waistcoats were long-sleeved upper garments, opening down the front and fitted at the waist using inserted gores. They were often made of linen and splendidly decorated as in this example.

Ownership & Use
Margaret Laton or Margaret Layton – What's in a name? When the V&A acquired the jacket and portrait of Margaret Layton in 1994, we used the version ‘Laton’ following the example set in 1933 by V&A curator Albert Kendrick. However, according to documents and monuments of the Layton family in Rawdon, Yorkshire, and the Dictionary of National Biography, the name was always spelled with a ‘y’. We are now making corrections in V&A labels, brochures, publications and on the V&A website.

In the portrait, Margaret Layton wears the waistcoat with an Italian needlelace collar and cuffs, a black velvet gown, a red silk petticoat and a whitework apron. As with many women of this period, we know very little about her life, other than her recorded connections to her father and husband.

Materials & Making
The waistcoat has long, tight sleeves, narrow shoulder wings, semi-circular cuffs and a small curved collar at the back neck, dating it to about 1610. Made of linen, it is hand sewn and lined with coral silk taffeta. Originally the jacket was fastened with pink silk ribbons. In the 1620s, an edging of spangled silver-gilt bobbin lace was added. Fragments remain of the original silk ribbons used for fastening. The waistcoat is embroidered in detached buttonhole, stem, plaited braid, chain, couching and dot stitches, with knots and speckling, with coloured silk threads, silver-gilt threads and spangles.

Time
Although the waistcoat was made about 1610, the portrait was painted more than 10 years later. By this time, waistlines had risen. Margaret Layton adapted to the new style by raising her petticoat and covering the lower half of the waistcoat.
Associated object
Bibliographic references
  • Robertshaw, Wilfrid. An Early Local Portrait. Bradfor:d: "The Bradford Antiquary", New Series, Part XXXV, 1950.
  • Hart, Avril and Susan North. Historical Fashion in Detail The 17th and 18th Centuries. London: V&A Museum, 1998
  • Christie, Grace, ed. Embroidery. London: Pearsall, 1909
  • Kendrick, A.F. A Book of Old Embroidery. London: The Studio, 1921
  • Kendrick, A.F. English Embroidery. London: George Newnes, 1905
  • Nevinson, J.L. 'English Embroidered Costume, Elizabeth and James.' The Connoisseur, CDXII, January 1936
  • Wingfield Digby, George. Elizabethan Embroidery. London: Faber and Faber, 1963
  • Cunnington, C. Willet and Phyllis. Handbook of English Costume in the 17th Century. London: Faber and Faber, 1966
  • Levey, Santina. Lace, A History. London: V&A Museum and George Maney, 1983
  • Thornton, Claire, 'Margaret Layton's Waistcoat', in North, Susan and Jenny Tiramani, eds, Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns, vol.1, London: V&A Publishing, 2011, pp.22-33
  • Betoverend steekspel : borduurwerk in Engeland ten tijde van koningin Elizabeth I, Rotterdam : Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, 1963 61
  • Illustrated catalogue of the loan exhibition of English decorative art at Lansdowne House: February 17th-28th, 1929, London: "The Collector", 1929, p. 35 (no. 207), Plate XLI
Other number
83 (unknown exhibition) - Exhibition number
Collection
Accession number
T.228-1994

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Record createdMay 18, 1999
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