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Not currently on display at the V&A

Man's Jacket

early 1860s (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This tightly tailored white cotton jacket--with projecting side flaps over the hips and a rectangular panel behind the front opening--would have been worn by a fashionable Burmese man during the second half of the nineteenth century. Known as an ein-gyi this example is embroidered in a quilted yellow silk displaying the wave and twisted rope patterns typical of Burmese design. It would have formed an ensemble, as shown, when worn with a pah-soe (a voluminous wrapped and draped) skirt. (See (0798 (IS))


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Cotton, embroidered and hand-quilted with yellow silk
Brief description
Burmese man's white cotton ein-gyi. Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885). Quilted with acheik patterns in yellow silk.
Physical description
Short and drawn in at the waist, flaring over the hips with side vents, long tight sleeves; it is open in front, and to the right side a breast flap is attached with a single button at the neck and left open at the waist. The decorative element of the body mainly consists of narrow verticle stripes of simple zig-zag acheik patterns; the bands round the neck, the arms at the shoulder and wrist, down the front and along the lower edge, are filled with a more elaborate rolling wave acheik patterns and twisted rope designs.
Dimensions
  • Shoulder to hem length: 58cm
  • Across shoulders width: 35.5cm
  • Sleeves length: 57cm
  • Waist (measured inside garment) circumference: 64cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
  • Chest (measured inside garment) circumference: 86cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
  • Nape waist length: 35cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
  • Nape hem length: 61.5cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
  • Across back width: 30.5cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
  • Sleeve length: 57cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
  • Cuff circumference: 17.5cm (Note: Measured by Conservation)
Style
Object history
Acquired from Burma by the Indian Museum in 1867.
Summary
This tightly tailored white cotton jacket--with projecting side flaps over the hips and a rectangular panel behind the front opening--would have been worn by a fashionable Burmese man during the second half of the nineteenth century. Known as an ein-gyi this example is embroidered in a quilted yellow silk displaying the wave and twisted rope patterns typical of Burmese design. It would have formed an ensemble, as shown, when worn with a pah-soe (a voluminous wrapped and draped) skirt. (See (0798 (IS))
Bibliographic references
  • Franklin & Swallow. Identifying with the Gods Hali Annual Edition: 1994. p.53, Fig.9
  • Dress in detail from around the world / Rosemary Crill, Jennifer Wearden and Verity Wilson ; with contributions from Anna Jackson and Charlotte Horlyck ; photographs by Richard Davis, drawings by Leonie Davis. London: V&A Publications, 2002 Number: 1851773770 (hbk), 1851773789 (pbk) pp.96-97 ill.
Other number
6044 - India Museum Slip Book
Collection
Accession number
5631(IS)

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Record createdSeptember 13, 1999
Record URL
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