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Banyan
Garthwaite, Anna Maria - Enlarge image
Banyan
- Place of origin:
Great Britain (made)
- Date:
1740-1750 (woven)
1750-1760 (made) - Artist/Maker:
Garthwaite, Anna Maria (possibly, designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Silk damask, lined with silk taffeta and linen, hand-sewn with silk and linen thread
- Credit Line:
Purchased with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Friends of the V&A, and a number of private donors
- Museum number:
T.92-2003
- Gallery location:
Fashion, room 40, case P19, shelf FIG 1
This is an unusual example of a banyan or nightgown for a woman. In the 1650s, the introduction of the Japanese kimono to Western society by the Dutch East India Company started a fashion for these simple loose garments. While it was difficult to import traditional kimonos from Japan, English tailors were soon making them up in the most fashionable silks. The woman’s banyan remained an informal garment throughout the 18th century. It would have been worn over stays and petticoats in the privacy of home, either in the morning before dressing formally for the day or in the evening before changing for bed.
This particular example from the period 1750 to 1770 combines the traditional T-shape of a kimono with the conventional European shaping for a woman’s gown at the back and sides. The textile is of great interest to the V&A: it is similar in style to the work of Anna Maria Garthwaite, one of the leading English silk designers of the 18th century, and research is ongoing to see if it matches one of the many patterns known to have been designed by her. It may have been designed by an unknown contemporary of Garthwaite’s and therefore indicate the degree to which her styles influenced damask design during the 1740s.
