Waistcoat Part thumbnail 1
Waistcoat Part thumbnail 2
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Waistcoat Part

ca.1615 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This panel once formed the left front and side of a woman's waistcoat, with a triangular insertion or gore, inserted into the lower edge. It is embroidered in a repeating pattern of strawberries in shades of pink and red to represent stages of ripening. The silver-gilt thread is worked mainly in plaited braid stitch and the silks in detached button-hole stitch. Such vibrantly embellished waistcoats were a popular style in English women’s fashions of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Linen, silk, silver, gold; hand-woven, hand-embroidered, hand-sewn
Brief description
Left front and side of a woman's embroidered linen waistcoat, ca.1615, English; silk and metal threads in a pattern of strawberries.
Physical description
Left front and side of a woman's waistcoat of fine bleached linen, embroidered with silk floss in detached buttonhole-stitch with shades of pink and green, silver and silver-gilt filé in plaited braid stitch, in a design of scrolling stems, strawberry flowers and ripening strawberries.
DimensionsDimensions will be added after mounting.
Object history
Purchased from Christie, Mason & Woods in 1926, together withT.258-1926, an early 17c embroidered nightcap for a total of £65 5s.
Summary
This panel once formed the left front and side of a woman's waistcoat, with a triangular insertion or gore, inserted into the lower edge. It is embroidered in a repeating pattern of strawberries in shades of pink and red to represent stages of ripening. The silver-gilt thread is worked mainly in plaited braid stitch and the silks in detached button-hole stitch. Such vibrantly embellished waistcoats were a popular style in English women’s fashions of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Bibliographic reference
John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.78
Collection
Accession number
T.259-1926

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Record createdAugust 25, 2005
Record URL
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