Dress Fabric
1742 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
This fabric is a brocaded silk and was intended for ladies' gowns. The technique of brocading allowed different colours to be introduced into the pattern of a fabric in specific, sometimes very small areas. It was a more laborious process for the weaver than using patterning wefts running from selvedge to selvedge, but the resulting effect could be much more varied and lively.
People
The design for this silk was commissioned from the freelance silk designer Anna Maria Garthwaite by a master weaver called Mr Pulley. He does not seem to have been a regular customer and is known to have bought only two designs, this one and another for a brocaded silk in 1743.
Time & Place
Lightweight silks like this with a floral pattern brocaded in delicate colours were very fashionable for women's gowns in the early 1740s. Lengths of this silk, woven with a white rather than pink ground, were exported both to Dublin and to New York, to be made up into dresses which still survive. Overseas trade contributed significantly to the prosperity of the Spitalfields industry in the first half of the 18th century.
This fabric is a brocaded silk and was intended for ladies' gowns. The technique of brocading allowed different colours to be introduced into the pattern of a fabric in specific, sometimes very small areas. It was a more laborious process for the weaver than using patterning wefts running from selvedge to selvedge, but the resulting effect could be much more varied and lively.
People
The design for this silk was commissioned from the freelance silk designer Anna Maria Garthwaite by a master weaver called Mr Pulley. He does not seem to have been a regular customer and is known to have bought only two designs, this one and another for a brocaded silk in 1743.
Time & Place
Lightweight silks like this with a floral pattern brocaded in delicate colours were very fashionable for women's gowns in the early 1740s. Lengths of this silk, woven with a white rather than pink ground, were exported both to Dublin and to New York, to be made up into dresses which still survive. Overseas trade contributed significantly to the prosperity of the Spitalfields industry in the first half of the 18th century.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Brocaded silk |
| Brief description | Dress fabric of brocaded silk, designed by Anna Maria Garthwaite, woven in Spitalfields, 1742 |
| Physical description | Brocaded silk with a design of flowering vines on a pale pink ground. Unused loom width of plain woven silk brocaded in silks in shades of white, green, blue, yellow, purple and black. The silk has a little over one complete repeat with meandering green stems and coloured blossoms growing out of them. Both selvedges are intact, each with two green stripes. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | British Galleries:
Lengths of silk of this pattern, woven on a white ground, were exported to Dublin and New York. The export trade formed a significant part of the English silk industry and customers demanded up-to-date designs, however far they lived from London. American newspapers advertised imported silks 'all of the very newest fashion'.(27/03/2003) |
| Object history | Purchased. Registered File number 1991/1223. The silk would have been intended for fashionable women's dress. |
| Historical context | The design in the Museum (5981.10B) is inscribed 'Mr Pully June 16 1742 Revers'd 3 Shuttles 3/4'. It is illustrated, and Mr Pully's identity is discussed in Silk Designs of the 18th Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum by Nathalie Rothstein, London, 1990. Two other examples of this silk have been identified, both with cream grounds: A dress in the Albany Institute of Arts (1944.60 1-3) and a petticoat in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin (167-1944). |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type This fabric is a brocaded silk and was intended for ladies' gowns. The technique of brocading allowed different colours to be introduced into the pattern of a fabric in specific, sometimes very small areas. It was a more laborious process for the weaver than using patterning wefts running from selvedge to selvedge, but the resulting effect could be much more varied and lively. People The design for this silk was commissioned from the freelance silk designer Anna Maria Garthwaite by a master weaver called Mr Pulley. He does not seem to have been a regular customer and is known to have bought only two designs, this one and another for a brocaded silk in 1743. Time & Place Lightweight silks like this with a floral pattern brocaded in delicate colours were very fashionable for women's gowns in the early 1740s. Lengths of this silk, woven with a white rather than pink ground, were exported both to Dublin and to New York, to be made up into dresses which still survive. Overseas trade contributed significantly to the prosperity of the Spitalfields industry in the first half of the 18th century. |
| Associated object | 5981:10/B (Design) |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.145-1991 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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