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Waistcoat
unknown - Enlarge image
Waistcoat
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
ca. 1770 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Embroidered satin
- Museum number:
652A-1898
- Gallery location:
In store
Beatrix Potter found some of the inspiration for her book The Tailor of Gloucester at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A). She told her editor, Norman Warne, 'I have been delighted to find I may draw some most beautiful 18th century clothes at S. Kensington museum'. This waistcoat, which the Museum acquired in 1898, is one piece she copied for her illustrations, and it appears several times in the book.
The waistcoat would have been part of a dress suit worn by men at formal occasions. The embroidery was worked in a professional workshop, with coloured silk in stem, satin stitches. The front edges are laid with cotton net and edged with couched chenille thread.
