Long Gown
1860-1870 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Baby's long gown of fine white linen, in a style reminiscent of 16th century fashionable dress. The gown has a rounded neck and wrist-length sleeves: the original neckline, which has speckled embroidery and a lace edge, has been filled in with a lace-edged yoke of diagonally placed foliage-patterned cutwork material matching some of the insertion on the bodice and skirt; the split cap sleeves, which are finished with a lace-edged band of the foliage-patterned cutwork, have been extended with full wrist-length undersleeves finished with lace at the wrist. The bodice has a V-shaped panel at the centre front, composed of horizontally aligned foliage-patterned cutwork which is framed with lace-edged muslin strips worked with a pendant-flowering vine motif in an Ayrshire-like technique. The bodice back is finished with two pairs of partly-stitched vertical tucks, and the waist with a single row of speckle-stitch. The gathered skirt is finished at the hem with rows of horizontal tucking and a lace-edged strip of the flowering vine embroidery, beneath an apron-shaped panel of insertion (the leaf-patterned cutwork diagonally placed, with a further single strip at each side, and a length of the flowering vine strip). The gathered, slightly shorter overskirt is open at the centre front and finished at the hem and edges with parallel tucking, and lace-edged and speckle-stitched flowering vine embroidery. The garment fastens at the back of the bodice with waist (and originally neck) drawstrings, a button and stitched buttonhole, and a button and loop.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Linen trimmed with lace and embroidery |
Brief description | Baby's white linen gown made in a style reminiscent of fashionable 16th century female dress; UK, 1860-1870 |
Physical description | Baby's long gown of fine white linen, in a style reminiscent of 16th century fashionable dress. The gown has a rounded neck and wrist-length sleeves: the original neckline, which has speckled embroidery and a lace edge, has been filled in with a lace-edged yoke of diagonally placed foliage-patterned cutwork material matching some of the insertion on the bodice and skirt; the split cap sleeves, which are finished with a lace-edged band of the foliage-patterned cutwork, have been extended with full wrist-length undersleeves finished with lace at the wrist. The bodice has a V-shaped panel at the centre front, composed of horizontally aligned foliage-patterned cutwork which is framed with lace-edged muslin strips worked with a pendant-flowering vine motif in an Ayrshire-like technique. The bodice back is finished with two pairs of partly-stitched vertical tucks, and the waist with a single row of speckle-stitch. The gathered skirt is finished at the hem with rows of horizontal tucking and a lace-edged strip of the flowering vine embroidery, beneath an apron-shaped panel of insertion (the leaf-patterned cutwork diagonally placed, with a further single strip at each side, and a length of the flowering vine strip). The gathered, slightly shorter overskirt is open at the centre front and finished at the hem and edges with parallel tucking, and lace-edged and speckle-stitched flowering vine embroidery. The garment fastens at the back of the bodice with waist (and originally neck) drawstrings, a button and stitched buttonhole, and a button and loop. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by Miss R. Maxwell |
Object history | Given by Miss R Maxwell (RF 92/ 2462). Said to have been worn by the donor's grandmother, Maud Kathleen Sinclair (born in 1870), and the donor's mother, Moira Clover Brown (born 23/10/1905). Maud Kathleen Sinclair was the youngest of at least nine children born to Robert Sinclair, a London hotelier, and his wife: her elder siblings were Robert (ca 1856), Duncan (ca 1858), John (ca 1860), Grace (ca 1862), Stanley (ca 1864), Malcolm (ca 1865), Blanche (ca 1867), and Ethel (ca 1869). The style of the gown is very feminine, and while it may not have originated with Maud, it is unlikely to date from earlier than Grace's birth. |
Production | The gown has later additions at the neck and sleeves, probably dating from the latter part of its use in the first generation or for the second generation ca. 1905 |
Collection | |
Accession number | MISC.1025-1992 |
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Record created | July 1, 2009 |
Record URL |
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