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Smock
Unknown - Enlarge image
Smock
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
1620-1640 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Linen, inserted with bobbin lace, hand-made and hand-sewn
- Credit Line:
Given by L. K. Elmhirst, Esq.
- Museum number:
T.243-1959
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56e, case 9
A woman's fine linen smock of the early 17th century is trimmed and inset with bobbin lace arranged in a distinctive diagonal pattern. The lace insertions are of the same design, but two different qualities, one finer than the other. Clearly there was not enough of the fine lace to complete the garment, so the coarser variety was used in alternate rows. This may have resulted as a miscalculation of how much lace to buy or because the cost of the finer, more expensive lace was too great.
A garment with so much lace had to be handled and cleaned with great care. Normally lace trimmings at the neck and wrist were taken off before laundering. However, the lace insertions in this smock could not be removed, so the whole garment had to be washed very gently.
The smock was originally in the Royal Collection at Windsor. It was given by Queen Victoria to one of her Ladies-in-Waiting, who bequeathed it to the donor's aunt.
