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Waistcoat

1740-1749 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Man’s waistcoat with a round neck, fronts curving from neck to hem and skirts reaching to between the top of the knee and mid-thigh. Each front has a pocket and shaped pocket flap. The fronts and pocket flaps are made of dark green satin, the back of green linen. The fronts and back are lined with fustian, the skirt and pocket-flap linings and front facings are ivory silk twill. The waistcoat is embroidered-to-shape with green silk twist in a pattern of large leaves and flowers, on the pocket flaps, around the pockets and along the front edges and hems. There are 12 worked buttonholes on a strip of green silk satin under the left front edge; there were 18 (1 now missing) buttons covered with green silk thread from neck to hem on the right front and 3 below each pocket (1 now missing below left pocket).

The waistcoat was later altered, probably in the 18th century; the back seam was unpicked from 1¼ inches (3.3 cm) below the neck and 34 eyelets worked on each side. The disintegrating silk linings reveal the horsehair stiffening the waistcoat skirts and wool padding along the right front.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
silk, linen, cotton, wool, horse hair; hand-woven, satin weave, hand-embroidered, hand-sewn
Brief description
Man's waistcoat, 1740s, French; green silk satin, embroidered with green silk thread
Physical description
Man’s waistcoat with a round neck, fronts curving from neck to hem and skirts reaching to between the top of the knee and mid-thigh. Each front has a pocket and shaped pocket flap. The fronts and pocket flaps are made of dark green satin, the back of green linen. The fronts and back are lined with fustian, the skirt and pocket-flap linings and front facings are ivory silk twill. The waistcoat is embroidered-to-shape with green silk twist in a pattern of large leaves and flowers, on the pocket flaps, around the pockets and along the front edges and hems. There are 12 worked buttonholes on a strip of green silk satin under the left front edge; there were 18 (1 now missing) buttons covered with green silk thread from neck to hem on the right front and 3 below each pocket (1 now missing below left pocket).

The waistcoat was later altered, probably in the 18th century; the back seam was unpicked from 1¼ inches (3.3 cm) below the neck and 34 eyelets worked on each side. The disintegrating silk linings reveal the horsehair stiffening the waistcoat skirts and wool padding along the right front.
Dimensions
  • Right shoulder to hem length: 96.5cm (approx)
  • Chest under armholes circumference: 112.5cm (approx)
Credit line
Given by Mrs E. M. Gilroy
Collection
Accession number
T.175-1962

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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