Provenance
The collector Sir William Burrell (1861-1958) purchased
these three items in 1937. They, with his collection, were gifted by Sir
William and his wife to the City of Glasgow. The Burrell Purchase Book states
that these were purchased from a direct descendant of Colonel Thomas Veel (1591-c1663)
of Alverstone near Bristol. The comment is that Charles left them, perhaps as a
gift or memento, after he had stayed with the Colonel in 1645. At that time Charles
had travelled from Oxford as head of the Western Association, and it is known
that the army stopped at both Bridgewater and Bristol. Whether they actually
belonged to Charles is not provable. They are described by the curator as “relatively
small for a man. However, Charles was only 15 in 1645.” (Quinton, 2013)
The waistcoat
The waistcoat is a vibrant pink/red silk satin with an
interlining of wool and linen, and was lined with a tabby weave pink/red silk,
of which little remains except around the buttonholes. I have not seen the
interior, thought the plain linen interlining can be seen inside the sleeves at
the wrist. It is edged, and the seams are covered, with a narrow silk braid. It
looks as though the buttons, which are somewhat flat, are covered with the same
silk braid. It is quilted with zig zag lines worked in running stitch.
The Burrell’s online description http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=36161
says that the lack of a waist seam is unusual at this date, but it is certainly
not unknown. The back and front panel of a 1630s doublet
in the Victoria and Albert Museum, doesn’t have a waist seam, the pattern
for this is diagram VIII in Waugh (1964). Also the 1644
burial doublet of Pfalzgraf Johann Friedrich has the front and back panels cut
in one piece. (Stolleis, 1977) The suggestion made
by the museum is that it was perhaps made to be worn under a buff coat. There
is a cream worsted waistcoat/coat of a similar date (1630-1650) in the V&A,
but the museum’s
online description is not very helpful. The sleeves of the waistcoat are
cut with a curve, and fasten with four buttons at the wrist. There are 25 buttons
down the front of the waistcoat.
The nightcap and slippers
The nightcap and its
matching backless slippers are made in pink silk satin. They are embroidered with
a design which has been identified as a pineapple. (Quinton, 2013).
The nightcap
The
nightcap is made from eight panels and has no brim. This brimless style is
similar to others of the middle decades of the seventeenth century. Another also
in the Glasgow
collection is reputed to have
belonged to Major Hugh Buntine, who was part of Leslie’s army in the Civil War.
The embroidery on the nightcap involves
couched loops of silver and silver-gilt thread, and spangles. It is lined with
a tabby weave yellow silk.
The slippers
The
slippers are backless, and heeled, a fairly common style in the mid 17th
century. There is another, but plain, pair in
the V&A, that were originally salmon pink. Later pairs, like these in
the Museum
of London, have a squarer toe. Other pairs of slippers exist from the
seventeenth century, for example the pair owned by Sir Francis Verney that are
at Claydon House.
References
Quinton, R., 2013. Glasgow Museums: Seventeenth
Century Costume. Glasgow: Glasgow Museums.
Stolleis, K.,
1977. Die Gewänder aus der Lauinger Fürstengruft. Munchen: Deutscher
Kunstverlag.
Waugh, N.,
1964. The cut of men's clothes 1600-1900.. London: Faber.
