Man or woman's felt hat and hat-shaped leather box, 1590-70, English

Man or woman’s hat and part of a hat box. The hat is made of felted animal fur, probably originally dyed black, now dark brown, and blocked to make a high, flat-crowned wide-brimmed style. The impression of the pack thread can be seen at the base of the crown. Stitching on the inside at the base and some strands of blue silk fibre suggest that it was once lined.

The top of a hat box is made of brown leather stitched over pasteboard, mirroring the shape of the crown and brim. There are two leather straps, a buckle and two leather loops on the top of the brim. There would originally have been a base underneath to hold the hat in place; this is missing.

Given by Lady Spickernell

Associated with the Cotton family of Etwall Hall, Derbyshire.

Covering one’s head was essential for everyone in the British Isles in the 1600s, as part of the etiquette of dress and for protection from the cold. The most fashionable hats were made of felted beaver fur, shaped on wooden hat blocks into a wide variety of styles with high or low crowns, wide or narrow brims. By the end of the 1500s, the beaver native to the British Isles was extinct and the fur to make hats had to be imported from the Baltic regions, Russia and eventually North America. Known as ‘beavers’ or ‘castors’, these hats were expensive and needed careful storage in specially made leather cases.

T.23&A-1938