Pair of Gloves thumbnail 1
Not on display

Pair of Gloves

1860-1890 (manufactured)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Gentlemen were expected to wear gloves with day and evening wear in Victorian England. While white was the only acceptable style for evening, colours could be worn during the day. Further distinctions were made between town and country wear. Hard wearing buff or tan leather was thought suitable for the country with black, brown, blue and dark green considered the most respectable colours for town wear from the mid-century.

The blue calf leather glove shown in this image was hand-sewn. The seams are finely oversewn using a contrasting white silk thread. The glove is simply and elegantly decorated with long points worked with a double row of white tambour (chain) stitching, terminating in a heart-shaped motif formed from two stitches. The cuff is finished with a strip of very narrow white leather.

The glove is wrist length and without a fastening which was the fashion at the time. Gloves were designed to be close fitting, and the signs of wear over the knuckles and at the finger ends of this glove show that it has been well used.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Glove
  • Glove
Materials and techniques
Calf leather hand-sewn with silk thread
Brief description
A pair of hand-sewn blue calf leather man's gloves.
Physical description
A pair of hand-sewn blue calf leather man's gloves, cut with a 'Bolton thumb', quirks and fourchettes. The seams are finely oversewn using a white silk thread; the points of the glove are worked with a double row of white silk tambour stitching; the cuff of the glove is finished with narrow white leather edge-binding, some of which has become detached and some of which has been lost.
Dimensions
  • Length: 22.2cm
  • Across palm width: 10cm
Both gloves are the same size.
Credit line
Given by Mrs Edith Renouf
Summary
Gentlemen were expected to wear gloves with day and evening wear in Victorian England. While white was the only acceptable style for evening, colours could be worn during the day. Further distinctions were made between town and country wear. Hard wearing buff or tan leather was thought suitable for the country with black, brown, blue and dark green considered the most respectable colours for town wear from the mid-century.

The blue calf leather glove shown in this image was hand-sewn. The seams are finely oversewn using a contrasting white silk thread. The glove is simply and elegantly decorated with long points worked with a double row of white tambour (chain) stitching, terminating in a heart-shaped motif formed from two stitches. The cuff is finished with a strip of very narrow white leather.

The glove is wrist length and without a fastening which was the fashion at the time. Gloves were designed to be close fitting, and the signs of wear over the knuckles and at the finger ends of this glove show that it has been well used.
Bibliographic reference
Johnston, Lucy with Kite, Marion and Persson, Helen. Nineteenth-Century Fashion in Detail. London: V&A Publications, 2005. 154-5p., ill. ISBN 185174394.
Collection
Accession number
T.32&A-1922

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Record createdDecember 18, 2007
Record URL
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