Seventeenth century clothing at Platt Hall Gallery of Costume, Manchester

Figure 1 - Collar from the 1630s

At the weekend I visited Platt Hall for the first time, I had never been to Manchester before but always wanted to visit the Gallery of Costume. At the moment the 20^th century exhibitions are closed, however the rest of the museum is open, as is the Schiaparelli exhibition. The Museum has an excellent collection of 17^th century garments, many having belonged to the Filmer family, and these by themselves are worth a detour. Below I give a flavour of what is on display, the collection extends well beyond these.

Figure 2 - Whatcombe bodice

There are two cases of linens covering 1600-1630 and 1630-1660, with whitework and lace collars, sleeves, coif and forehead cloths. Figure 1 shows one corner of the 1630-1660 case, with a bobbin lace collar from the 1630s. 

The garments include the Whatcombe bodice (c1650-1660) (Figure 2) with interactive information on the project to “digitally restore” the bodice. Research done for the reconstruction indicates that the garment may originally have belonged to the first wife of Bussy Mansel (1623–1699), a Welsh parliamentarian who served under Fairfax, and was appointed to the Barebones Parliament by Cromwell in 1653.

Figure 3 -Detail of 1630s waistcoat

The heavier embroidered patterns of the late 16^th and early 17^th century, often with flowers but in this case mainly with bunches of grapes,  that appear on the girl’s jacket from c1610, contrast with the more open embroidery of a woman’s waistcoat from c1630-40 that is displayed near it. A detail of the 1630s embroidery is shown in Figure 3. Slightly later still is a 1670-1700 bodice, which repeats in an Indian painted cotton the very fanciful flower patterns that became popular for embroidery in the second half of the century.  

Figure 4 - Pocket detail 1685-95 coat

In men’s wear there is a natural linen doublet from around 1625-35, heavily embroidered in the same thread with couching and French knots, and a heavily embroidered man's nightcap of about the same date, which is only one of several in the collection. There is a wool/silk mix coat from about 1685-1695, which  has 103 silk thread covered buttons. Figure 4 shows the buttons on one of the pockets of the coat, and figure 5 below shows the splendid 1680s lace cravat displayed with it. 

Figure 5 - 1680s cravat

As can been seen from the links Manchester Museums have put much of the collection online, but it is worth going to the museum to see them, and much more on display. 

Dummy boards of c.1620

On Saturday I went to Hinton Ampner House where I saw two lovely 1620s dummy boards of children. Dummy boards, also known as silent companions or conservation pieces are life size painted wooden representations of people. They were around mainly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and they are good sources for costume information, though beware copies were made in the nineteenth century and there are people who make reproductions nowadays

The two dummy boards depict a boy and a girl, and to me say about 1615-1625 and Dutch. The boy is unbreeched, wearing skirts but carrying a wooden sword, and with a muckminder (large handkerchief) attached to his belt. The girl has the very rigid style of coif that appears in many Dutch paintings of the time, and would appear to require a wire frame, which the Dutch call an Oorijzer, and I love the wicker basket.

I was aware of the dummy boards in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection, particularly the two c.1620 boards which are probably a pair, and possibly represent industry and vanity. The one representing industry has appeared in several costume books where she is usually described as a maid. She is not alone there are two almost identical dummy board figures of women with brooms, in Lullingstone Castle and Stoneleigh Abbey. Although described as a maid because she has a broom and an apron hitched to one side for working, her clothing has been considered too rich for a servant. She wears a shadow or cornet on her head, a falling ruff and turned back cuffs decorated with lace. These are very similar in style, though nowhere near as ornate, as the ones worn by Margaret Layton in the famous c.1620 painting of her wearing her embroidered jacket.

The companion piece, described as vanity, has her hair down and a mirror in her hand. She wears a pearl necklace and earrings, and the lace decorating her apron appears to match the lace on her cuffs and on the collar of her very low neckline. The low neckline is of a style often worn by James I’s wife Anne of Denmark as can be seen in a 1617 portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.  This dishabille style also appears in the portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton .  The pairing of industry and vanity, or similar, is common at this time, as in the title page of the embroidery book The Needles Excellency, where Wisdom (with a book), Industry(with her sewing) and Follie, are shown side by side.

There is a small Shire book on the subject: Claire Graham Dummy Boards and Chimney Boards 1988

Hollar Digital Collection from Toronto

When it comes to looking at the clothing of women in the mid 17th century the engravings of Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677) are invaluable. I am very lucky in that, knowing my interests, I have been given several originals as gifts and have them in my own collection. The University of Toronto, which has one of the largest collections of his works in the world, has put their entire collection online as the Hollar Digital Collection. The definition on the costume prints is superb, when you look at them just remember that the figures on the originals are only about 8 cm by 3 cm.

Hollar was born in Prague, and so his early life was heavily influence by the beginning of the Thirty Years War in 1618. When Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate and King of Bohemia, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of King James I of England, fled Prague in November of 1620 the city was taken by Maximilian of Bavaria. The city suffered during this and the next few years and Hollar’s family was apparently ruined. Hollar moved around the German states, meeting Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel in 1636 and travelling with him back to England in 1637. Hollar was certainly in England at the start of the Civil War, but appears to have moved to Antwerp by 1644. John Evelyn said he returned to England about 1649 but others have stated 1652. He died in London and is buried at St Margaret’s Westminster.

For costume historians the groups of his engravings of most interest are the Ornatus Mulierbris, the Theatrum Mulierum and Aula Veneris. When looking at the dates on these prints watch out for the difference between del. and fecit. Del. indicating delineated means sketched or drawn on that date, fecit means made at that date.

Ornatus Mulierbris

To give it its full title, Ornatus muliebris Anglicanus, or, The severall habits of English women: from the nobilitie to the contry woman, as they are in these times, 1640. This was a set of 26 plates of Englishwomen published by Peter Stent The individual plates are not titled, so descriptions have often been given to them that are not Hollar’s own, the “country woman” (as shown above) has often been listed as a servant or a kitchen maid. Some of the plates are copies of Van Dyck paintings.

Theatrum Mulierum and Aula Veneris

These are later plates done when Hollar was in Europe, dated mainly between 1644 and 1649, showing the costume of women from various countries, and they have an incredibly complex publishing history. These plates do have titles in Latin, so for example Civis Norimbergensis Vxor  is a citizen’s wife of Nuremberg, and  Mulier Sueuica Inferioris Conditionsis is a lower class Swedish woman. Illustrated here is his French countrywoman.

The Toronto Collection contains many other of works, including his landscapes, architectural drawings, maps and a lovely collection of sporting prints. It is well worth a visit.

Much of the information above has come from Richard Pennington, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched Work of Wenceslaus Hollar 1607-1677 (Cambridge, 1982), a catalogue raisonné of Hollar’s work.