Thursday 28 September 2017

The Duke of Buckingham's clothes for Paris, 1625.



Those who watched the recent BBC programme where a portrait of the Duke of Buckingham was identified as having been painted by Rubens in 1625 – and even those who didn’t, may be interested in this contemporary report of what Buckingham wore when he went on King Charles I’s behalf to Paris in 1625. The portrait to the right is not the Rubens portrait but one of the same date by Michiel J. van Miereveld, now in the Art Gallery of South Australia.

When James I died in March 1625 negotiations were already underway for a marriage between Charles and Princess Henrietta Maria of France. The marriage, with the Duc de Chevreuse (Claude de Guise) acting as proxy for Charles, took place at Notre Dame in May 1625. Charles sent Buckingham to Paris to bring the new queen back to England. 

In the State Papers the report of Buckingham’s clothes is actually described as “a singular specimen of the luxurious magnificence of that great favourite.” It also tells us to a certain extent about the clothes provided to his entourage. 

“His Grace hath for his body, twenty seven rich suits embroidered and laced with silk and silver plushes; besides one rich white satin uncut velvet suit, set all over, both suit and cloak, with diamonds, the value whereof is thought to be worth fourscore thousand pounds, besides a feather made of great diamonds; with sword, girdle, hatband and spurs with diamonds, which suit his Grace intends to enter Paris with. Another rich suit is of purple satin, embroidered all over with rich orient pearls; the cloak made after the Spanish fashion, with all things suitable, the value whereof will be £20,000 and this is thought shall be for the wedding day in Paris. His other suits are all as rich as invention can frame, or art fashion. His colours [that is for his entourage] for the entrance are white pwatchett, and for the wedding crimson and gold.

Three rich suits apiece,

Twenty privy gentlemen; seven grooms of his chamber; thirty Chief Yeomen; two master cooks.

Of his own servants for the household,

Twenty five second cooks; fourteen Yeomen of the second rank, seventeen grooms to them; forty five labourers selletters belonging to the kitchen, twelve pages, three rich suits apiece; twenty four footmen, three rich suits and two rich coats apiece; six huntsmen two rich suits apiece, twelve Grooms one suit apiece, six Riders one suit apiece, besides eight others to attend the stable business.
Three rich velvet coaches inside; without with gold lace all over; eight horses in each coach and six coachmen richly suited; eight score musicians richly suited; twenty two watermen suited in sky coloured taffety, all gilded with anchors, and my Lord’s arms; all these to row in one barge of my Lord’s. All these servants have everything suitable, all being at his Grace’s charge.”

From: Miscellaneous state papers: from 1501-1726, Volume 1, p.571-2

Tuesday 12 September 2017

Embroidered jackets or waistcoats – surviving examples


Detail from the 1610-20 example at Platt Hall, Manchester

The fashion for women to wear embroidered jackets or waistcoats appears at the end of the sixteenth century and goes through to at least the middle of the seventeenth century. From the middle of the seventeenth century and on into the eighteenth the embroidered jacket or waistcoat disappears from portraiture, and the garment itself becomes an under garment worn for warmth and often quilted, though it loses its sleeves. 

The examples I link to below are by no means a complete listing, but I have put them into date order, or at least ordered by the dates the museums that hold them give for them. The dates are pretty fluid and often change depending on who is describing the item. In many cases I indicate printed sources where you can find further information.

The photographs are mine and are therefore usually taken through glass, my apologies for the quality.

1590-1630 Victoria and Albert Museum. Coloured silk embroidery on linen. A coiling deign of flowers and leaves. Melanie Braun,  'Embroidered Linen Jacket', in North, Susan and Jenny Tiramani, eds, Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns, vol.2, London: V&A Publishing, 2012, pp.48-57 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O80226/jacket-unknown/

1600-1610. Museum of Fashion, Bath.  Coloured silk and metal thread embroidery on linen. A coiling pattern of flowers and leaves. I have found it difficult to find images online as the museum does not have an object search as such. https://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/sites/fashion_museum/files/embroidered-waistcoat-fashion-museum-bath.jpg

1600-25. Victoria and Albert Museum. Coloured silk thread embroidery on ivory silk with a slightly, coiling, slightly interlaced design of roses, honeysuckle and other flowers. John Lea Nevinson, Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth & Seventeenth Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles, London: HMSO, 1938, p.79, plate LV. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115772/jacket-unknown/

The back of the Worthing Museum example
1600-25. Victoria and Albert Museum. Coloured silk and silver gilt thread embroidery, with spangles, on a linen fabric. A coiling design with flowers, birds and butterflies.  Avril Hart and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th and 18th centuries, V&A Publications, 1998, p.148 & 149 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. Avril Hart and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th and 18th centuries, V&A Publications, 1998, p.148 & 149 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15345/jacket-unknown/

1600-1615. Worthing Museum. Blackwork silk on linen. Nothing on the Worthing Museum website, though it is mentioned fleetingly here http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/architecture-and-design/art63118

1600-1620. Norwich Museums. Unmade garment. Coloured silk on linen, with a pattern of roses in circles, and borage(?) flowers. See my photograph. 
The Norwich Museums unmade example

1610-1615. Victoria and Albert Museum. The Margaret Layton jacket. Coloured silk and metal thread on linen with spangles. A coiling design of flowers fruit and insects. Thornton, Claire, 'Margaret Layton's Waistcoat', in North, Susan and Jenny Tiramani, eds, Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns, vol.1, London: V&A Publishing, 2011, pp.22-33. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O11095/jacket-unknown/

1610-1615. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass. Silver and gilt-silver thread embroidery on linen, with a coiling patterns of daffodils. http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/womans-jacket-116779

1610-1620. Burrell Collection, Glasgow. Coloured silk and metal thread embroidery on linen in a coiling design of flowers and insects. Janet Arnold, Patterns of fashion c.1560-1620. Macmillan, 1983. p.51 & 120-121. The link is to a short film on jacket and the Burrell’s recreation of it. http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/burrell-collection/the-collection/Pages/gilt-and-silk.aspx


1610-1620. Platt Hall Gallery, Manchester. Coloured silks on linen with spangles, and an open scrolling design of vines and grapes.   http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=2001.131

1610-20.  Museum of London. A wool thread blackwork embroidered on linen, in a pattern of barberries. Zillah Halls, Women’s costume 1600-1750, Museum of London, HMSO. 1970, p31, Plates 1 & 2.  https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/84662.html


1610-20.  Museum of London. Silk blackwork embroidery on linen with a pattern of strawberries and strawberry leaves. Zillah Halls, Women’s costume 1600-1750, Museum of London, HMSO. 1970, p31. https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/84660.html

1610-1620. Victoria and Albert Museum.  Blue embroidery on pink silk with silver spangles, in a coiling design.  Jenny Tiramani,  'Pink Silk Waistcoat', in North, Susan and Jenny Tiramani, eds, Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns, vol.1, London: V&A Publishing, 2011, pp.34-47 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O354860/waistcoat-unknown/

1615-1620. Victoria and Albert Museum. Silk blackwork embroidery on linen fabric. A coiling design of flower, animal and insect motifs. Susan North, "The Falkland Jacket: Sources, Provenance and Interpretation of an Emblematic Artifact", Emblematica, vol 14, 2005, pp.127-151. Avril Hart and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th and 18th centuries, London: V&A, 1998, p. 148  https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O137739/jacket-unknown/

c.1616. Metropolitan Museum, New York. Coloured silk and metal thread embroidery on a linen fabric, with a coiling design on flowers, birds and insects. http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81132

c. 1620. Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery. Red silk embroidery on linen in a design of coiling peapods. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3e/fd/6f/3efd6f2258bad240314403c994161beb.jpg

1620-25. Victoria and Albert Museum. A silk thread blackwork embroidered on linen. A coiling design of flowers interspersed with insects and birds. Luca Costigliolo,, 'Blackwork waistcoat', in North, Susan and Jenny Tiramani, eds, Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns, vol.1, London: V&A Publishing, 2011, pp.48-59 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110094/waistcoat-unknown/

1620-1640. Victoria and Albert Museum. One panel only from a waistcoat.  Coloured silk embroidery on linen. A coiling pattern of strawberries.  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 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115757/jacket-part-unknown/

1620-1625. Platt Hall Gallery of Costume, Manchester.  Black silk, blackwork on linen, with a design of strapwork bands with flower motifs between. http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=2003.66
Detail of the 1625-40 Platt Hall example

1625-1640 Platt Hall Gallery of Costume, Manchester.  Silver thread embroidery and spangles on a  linen ground with an abstract coiling design. http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=1956.64

1630-1640.  Victoria and Albert Museum. Silver thread embroidery and spangles on fustian. The design is a meandering pattern. Tiramani, Jenny, 'Fustian Waistcoat', in North, Susan and Jenny Tiramani, eds, Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns, vol.1, London: V&A Publishing, 2011, pp.60-69 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101730/waistcoat-unknown/

1630-1640.  Victoria and Albert Museum. Drawn-thread-and-pulled-fabric work on linen, decorated with spangles. Hart, Avril and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th and 18th centuries, London: V&A, 1998, p. 196  https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130595/waistcoat-unknown/

1630-1640.  Victoria and Albert Museum. Red wool embroidery on linen, with some white linen thread embroidery as well. Large very stylised floral motifs. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115768/waistcoat-unknown/

1640. Victoria and Albert Museum. Red wool embroidery on a linen warf/wool weft fabric [linsey wolsey]. Individual motifs of flowers and birds. Avril Hart and Susan North, Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th and 18th centuries. London: V&A Publications, 1998, p.150. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110107/waistcoat-unknown/

Detail of the painted cotton example
1670-1700. JUST TO CONFUSE EVERYONE. Not embroidered. A painted cotton calico jacket in imitation of the embroidered examples. http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=2004.93
 
1680-1720 Platt Hall Gallery of Costume. Yellow silk embroidery on linen with a design of nterlacing circular arabesques enclosing three-leaf sprigs. Museum does not have an image.  http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=1953.64

c. 1700 Philadelphia Museum of Art. A sleeveless waistcoat, quilted with silk embroidery in a vine pattern on a cotton fabric with a linen lining. https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/89987.html?mulR=1844835644|5

c.1700 Museum of Fashion, Bath. Coloured silk embroidery on linen, quilted. A sleeveless waistcoat, with a tree of life type motif and birds resembling cranes. https://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/sites/fashion_museum/files/styles/gallery_item_colorbox/public/HFx100%20ID%206%201700%20Fashion%20Museum%20Bath%20portrait%20shot.jpg?itok=b405q8za

1700s. Victoria and Albert Museum. Coloured silk embroidery on linen, quilted, with a very open design of stylised flowers. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O354306/waistcoat-unknown/

1700s Victoria and Albert Museum. One panel from a woman’s waistcoat. Coloured silk embroidery on linen, in a very open scrolling pattern.  https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O319127/waistcoat-panel-unknown/

1700-1750. Phoenix Museum of Art. A sleeveless waistcoat, coloured silk embroidery on linen with floral motifs.http://egallery.phxart.org/view/objects/asitem/items$0040:9482

1730s Glasgow Museums. A sleeveless waistcoat or underbodice, cotton quilted with white cotton thread and embroidered in coloured silk threads with stylised floral motifs.  http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=37519