
- Gown
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Gown
- Place of origin:
Spitalfields (textile, weaving)
Great Britain (gown, sewing) - Date:
1740 - 1749 (weaving)
1740 - 1749 (sewing)
1760 - 1769 (altered)
1950 - 1959 (altered) - Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Silk, linen silk thread, linen thread; hand woven and hand sewn
- Credit Line:
Given by Mrs H. H. Fraser
- Museum number:
T.433-1967
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This 1760s gown features a rose-red silk with trails of ivory flowers woven in a complex technique. The fabric, a type of silk known as gros de tours, dates from the 1740s, but the gown itself has been remade into the style of the 1760s.
Due to the great expense of silk, it was very common practice in the 18th century for women to remake and update their gowns. Gros de tours silks were luxury fabrics in the 1740s, costing between 6 shillings and twelve shillings per yard; a sack required some fifteen yards of silk.