Overdress thumbnail 1
Overdress thumbnail 2
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On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Overdress

ca. 1760-1770 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Woman's overdress of hand-painted and dyed cotton. In shades of red, blue, green, yellow and brown on a white ground. All-over pattern of delicate, wavy floral stems, interspersed with clusters of flowers and bamboo shoots growing from mounds, and with conventional flower-filled vases. The dress has very short sleeves and is cut low at the neck. The bodice opens down the middle and is secured with cotton-tying strings. The skirt is partly lined with thin white silk. Made for the European market.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Painted and dyed cotton, partly lined with silk
Brief description
Woman's overdress of hand-painted and dyed cotton, Coromandel Coast, ca. 1760-1770
Physical description
Woman's overdress of hand-painted and dyed cotton. In shades of red, blue, green, yellow and brown on a white ground. All-over pattern of delicate, wavy floral stems, interspersed with clusters of flowers and bamboo shoots growing from mounds, and with conventional flower-filled vases. The dress has very short sleeves and is cut low at the neck. The bodice opens down the middle and is secured with cotton-tying strings. The skirt is partly lined with thin white silk. Made for the European market.
Dimensions
  • Length: 72in
  • Sleeve end to sleeve end width: 35in
  • Repeat length: 23.5in
  • Repeat length: 54.1cm
  • Repeat width: 41in
  • Repeat width: 104cm
Marks and inscriptions
United East India Company [stamped] (On the front right panel of the skirt, near the waist)
Gallery label
(09/12/2015)
Dress (robe à l’anglaise)
About 1785

Characterised by its close-fitting back, the robe à l’anglaise, or English-style dress, was fashionable across Europe in the 1770s and ’80s. This one is made of vibrantly patterned painted cotton, or chintz, imported from India through the port of Amsterdam. Indian cottons were popular because of their fast and bright colours and the competitive price, which made them available to a wider market.

Dutch Republic, now the Netherlands
Fabric (1760–70): India (Coromandel Coast); cotton, mordant- and resistdyed (chintz)
Stamped with the mark of the Dutch East India Company
Replica petticoat: cotton
Given by Mrs Raphael Nahon
Credit line
Given by Mrs Raphael Nahon
Subject depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Crill, Rosemary, Chintz: Indian Textiles for the West, London, 2008. Plate 84; p. 134 Detail only
  • Irwin, John and Katherine Brett, Origins of Chintz, London, 1970. With a catalogue of Indo-European cotton-paintings in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. ISBN 112900534. p. 121, cat. no. 154, pl. 136
  • The art of India and Pakistan, a commemorative catalogue of the exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1947-8. Edited by Sir Leigh Ashton. London: Faber and Faber, [1950] p. 217, cat. no. 1033
Collection
Accession number
IM.39-1934

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Record createdJanuary 16, 2003
Record URL
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