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Woman's ensemble

Ensemble
1875-1899 (made)
Place of origin

Consisting of a full sleeved blouse and midi skirt embroidered with red cotton and copper gilt thread and spangle designs, and a petticoat 'apron' and long band woven in copper-gilt and silver thread, white cotton and coloured wools with geometrical patterns.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 5 parts.

  • Blouse
  • Skirt
  • Skirt
  • Apron
  • Belt
TitleWoman's ensemble
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Woman's ensemble, cotton, wool, copper gilt, silver thread and spangles, Romania, 1875-99.
Physical description
Consisting of a full sleeved blouse and midi skirt embroidered with red cotton and copper gilt thread and spangle designs, and a petticoat 'apron' and long band woven in copper-gilt and silver thread, white cotton and coloured wools with geometrical patterns.
Dimensions
  • T.93 blouse length: 19in (Note: Back of blouse)
  • T.93 blouse width: 22in (Note: Width of shoulders)
  • T.93 a skirt length: 39.5in
  • T.93 blouse width: 69in (Note: Width with sleeves)
  • T.93 a skirt width: 68.5in (Note: Greastest width)
  • T.93 b petticoat length: 34.75in
  • T.93 b petticoat width: 22.25in (Note: Width at belt)
  • T.93 c apron length: 34.75in
  • T.93 c apron width: 18in
  • T.93 d band length: 113.5in (Note: Greatest length, with tassels.)
  • T.93 d band width: 1.5in
Dimensions have been taken from historic register and have not been checked.
Credit line
Gift of Her Majesty the Queen, Buckingham Palace. R.P. 5751/1926.
Object history
A gift from H.M. the Queen. RP 5751/1926.

A note in the register says:

'T214 to D-1968, the same remarks also apply to T.93 to D-1926.

I showed this costume to Mme Muzicescu of the Institute of the History of Art, Bucharest. She says it is not a genuine peasant costume. The pattern of the wide border of the skirt belongs to Muscel near Arges, whereas the type of skirt in this districtr was the narrow wrap-around (see above). The pattern shoiuld not be aligned to the catrinta. The skirt is too long, since the genuine costume has a shorter overskirt, showing several inches of petticoat underneath. The petticoat and the blouse should not be seperate, but one shift. The belt is wrong, and should not have tassels. She says that in the 1920's there were societies of upper class ladies in Bucharest devoted to the preservation of peasant costume, who had costumes made up, but unfortunately while the techniques were good, they had no real knowledge of the old costumes and the resulting products were a somewhat romantic and sentimental composition drawn from the costumes of various regions. She considers that this is one of these.

P. Johnstone 17.06.1971'
Collection
Accession number
T.93-1926

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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