Please complete the form to email this item.

Gown

Gown

  • Place of origin:

    England, Great Britain (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1785 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Printed cotton, lined with linen, hand-sewn

  • Credit Line:

    Given by Miss K. Lack

  • Museum number:

    T.274&A-1967

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

  • Download image

In the 1770s and 1780s printed cotton fabrics began to replace silk in popularity for women’s gowns. The material of this gown has a dotted ground and is printed in a repeating pattern of floral sprays. The gown has a fitted back and open front below the waist, revealing a petticoat of the same fabric. The lack of decoration and use of cotton instead of silk indicates that this gown was probably worn during summer afternoons for card games and tea parties, rather than for evening dress.

Physical description

Gown and petticoat made of printed cotton with a design of floral sprays in pink, blue and green alternating with smaller floral sprays, probably derived from Indian embroidery. The ground is filled with a diaper pattern in dotted red broken lines. There are blue lines in the selvedge.

It is an open robe with a fitted back, and the waist seam is raised over the pointed back of the bodice. The front bodice closes centrally with a draw string at the neck and at the waist and is shaped into two squared off points. The bodice is tight fitting and has a low round neck, and with tight sleeves with gussets at the elbow and the centre front opening with deep square-ended tabs. The sleeves are half length and shaped at the elbow. The bodice is lined with white linen with space for the insertions of two bones in the centre back. The hem is very wide, probably done to adjust the length when the waist was lifted.

The petticoat is of matching material, flat pleated at the waist and tying at each side with a continuation of the tape used to bend the top. At the hem is a finely pleated frill of self material.

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (made)

Date

ca. 1785 (made)

Artist/maker

unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Printed cotton, lined with linen, hand-sewn

Dimensions

Length: 11.7 cm repeat, Width: 10.5 cm repeat

Descriptive line

Gown and petticoat made of printed cotton, England, ca. 1785

Subjects depicted

Flowers

Categories

Textiles; Fashion; Formal wear; Day wear; Women's clothes

Collection code

T&F

Download image
Qr_O13815
Ajax-loader