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Night Gown

1750-1775 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The loosely cut style of this night gown (informal robe) for a man is based on that of the Japanese kimono, introduced to Western Europe in the mid-17th century. Night gowns in this new style became very popular, often made up of imported Indian chintz fabric, as in this case, as well as Indian and Chinese silks. Such garments were part of the wider 18th-century European interest in and fashion for designs, materials and objects from all parts of Asia that traded with Europe. Night gowns were also made of fashionable European silks and sturdy woollen plaids.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Cotton, linen; hand-woven, resist-dyed, block printed, hand-sewn
Brief description
Man's night gown, 1750-1775, the Netherlands, of resist-dyed cotton with a red ground, the Coromandel Coast, lined with block-printed cotton, the Netherlands
Physical description
Man's floor-length and long-sleeved chintz night gown, loose cut, and lined with printed cotton. Red ground Indian floral chintz and lined with a block printed in red on a cream ground in a repeated stylised leaf pattern. T-shaped construction inspired by the Japanese kimono. The back is made from a single width of cotton although it is not cut selvedge to selvedge. Both fronts and parts of the sleeves are continued from the back without shoulder seams. The under arm seams are continuous with the side seams. Additional width and shaping to the skirt of the garment is achieved by the insertion of two pairs of gussets in each side seam below pocket level and extending to the hem. The vertical pocket holes and bags of linen with pointed flaps are set into the side seam well below the cuffs of the sleeves. The lining is cut on the same principle to match the outer chintz, with a layer of wadding between them.
Dimensions
  • Neck to hem length: 143cm (approx)
  • Hem width: 107.0cm (approx)
Object history
Purchased. Registered File number 1992/1253.
Production
The chintz fabric was made in South-east India (the 'Coromandel Coast') for the Dutch market, and it was made into a man's night gown in the Netherlands, with a Dutch printed cotton lining.
Summary
The loosely cut style of this night gown (informal robe) for a man is based on that of the Japanese kimono, introduced to Western Europe in the mid-17th century. Night gowns in this new style became very popular, often made up of imported Indian chintz fabric, as in this case, as well as Indian and Chinese silks. Such garments were part of the wider 18th-century European interest in and fashion for designs, materials and objects from all parts of Asia that traded with Europe. Night gowns were also made of fashionable European silks and sturdy woollen plaids.
Bibliographic references
  • Irwin, John and Katharine Brett. Origins of Chintz. London: HMSO, 1970. Catalogue Part 3: Costume, p.108, pl. 96.
  • Crill, Rosemary, Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West, London, 2008. Plate 52, p. 101
Collection
Accession number
T.215-1992

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Record createdJanuary 14, 2004
Record URL
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