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Dress Coat

c.1790 - c.1800 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Rich blue silk coat with cutaway fronts, embroidered with sprays of stylised flowers and leaves in yellow, green, pink and cream silk. At the very edge is a simple border of leaves and sprigs. The embroidery is at the collar, closing edges, cuffs, pocket-flaps and coat tails. There are six embroidered buttons on the proper right front, three under either pocket-flap, three at the back-waist. The body is lined with cream linen and silk with twentieth-century repairs.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
embroidered silk
Brief description
Men's dress coat, embroidered, ca.1790 - ca.1800, England; Beatrix Potter, Tailor of Gloucester
Physical description
Rich blue silk coat with cutaway fronts, embroidered with sprays of stylised flowers and leaves in yellow, green, pink and cream silk. At the very edge is a simple border of leaves and sprigs. The embroidery is at the collar, closing edges, cuffs, pocket-flaps and coat tails. There are six embroidered buttons on the proper right front, three under either pocket-flap, three at the back-waist. The body is lined with cream linen and silk with twentieth-century repairs.
Dimensions
  • Collar height: 45mm
  • Collar to hem length: 1113mm
Production typeUnique
Object history
Purchased in 1898 for £6 6s from Messrs. Howell & James, Regent Street (RP: 89025/1898)
Historical context
Beatrix Potter found some of the inspiration for her book The Tailor of Gloucester at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A). She told her editor, Norman Warne, 'I have been delighted to find I may draw some most beautiful 18th century clothes at S. Kensington museum'. (from Sue Prichard's Access to Images entry for 652A-1898)
Subject depicted
Association
Collection
Accession number
295-1898

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Record createdJanuary 12, 2007
Record URL
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