Stomacher
1760-1780 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place Of Origin |
A stomacher is a decorative panel of fabric, usually triangular in shape, worn to fill the space between the front edges of a woman’s open gown. The stomacher formed part of the ensemble of fashionable women’s dress from the 1680s to the 1780s. This example mimics the buttoned fastening and skirts of a man’s waistcoat. It may well have been worn with a jacket styled after masculine fashions, such as a woman’s riding coat. The design and execution of the embroidery, as well as the style of the stomacher, suggest an Italian origin.
object details
| Categories | |
| Object Type | |
| Materials and Techniques | Silk, linen, silver, gold; hand-woven, hand-sewn; hand-embroidered |
| Brief Description | Woman's stomacher of cream silk, 1760-80, Italian; coloured & silver-gilt embroidery, waistcoat shape |
| Physical Description | Woman's stomacher of cream silk, lined with linen. It is embroidered with coloured silk floss and silver-gilt filé and filé-wrapped parchment in a floral design . It is shapled like the front of a woman's riiding waistcoat with skirts below the waist, uncut buttonholes and decorative buttons. The neck, centre fronts and skirts are bound with wide silver-gilt filé ribbon. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and Inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by Mrs P. Sanguinetti |
| Summary | A stomacher is a decorative panel of fabric, usually triangular in shape, worn to fill the space between the front edges of a woman’s open gown. The stomacher formed part of the ensemble of fashionable women’s dress from the 1680s to the 1780s. This example mimics the buttoned fastening and skirts of a man’s waistcoat. It may well have been worn with a jacket styled after masculine fashions, such as a woman’s riding coat. The design and execution of the embroidery, as well as the style of the stomacher, suggest an Italian origin. |
| Bibliographic Reference | Avril Hart and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th and 18th centuries, London: V&A, 1998, p. 202 |
| Collection | |
| Accession Number | T.182-1958 |
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| record created | July 23, 2007 |
| Record URL |