Object Number 2001.0037.007

Object Name

Waistcoat

Category

Textiles (Clothing)

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Patricia Newbold Forbes Dempsey

Place of Origin

Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic, United States, North America

Secondary Place of Origin

England or France, Europe

Secondary Origin Notes

Previous cataloguer stated Primary creation place as Philadelphia, PA but without a reference. This was worn by a member of a prominent Philadelphia family, and was likey to have been created by a Philadelphia tailor waistcoat front panels designed and adorned in England or France.

Date

1780-1810

Materials

Silk; Linen; Buckram; Silver; Copper

Techniques

Tambour work, Embroidered

Dimensions (inches)

26.772 (H) , 14.173 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

68 (H) , 36 (W)

Object Description

Web - 01/21/2016

A double breasted, embroidered silk waistcoat with a round collar and satin fronts. Less expensive fabrics were commonly used on the back of waistcoats to cut costs. The back of this waistcoat (assembled from two panels with a center vent) is made of linen. The front panels are adorned with silver spangles, thin gauge metallic wire, applied throughout in tambour work to create a chain stitch, and silver bugle beads. The waistcoat is lined for warmth with an unusual woven, brushed silk twill fabric that has an elongated cut pile. Each satin front is adorned with a row of twelve covered buttons next to a coordinating set of buttonholes. The rows of buttons are designed to allow the wearer to close the waistcoat with one row of buttons from either side and both rows could not be fastened at the same time. These buttons are covered to match the silk fronts and each one is adorned with one spangle in the center and a length of wire chain worked with a tambour hook into a chain stitch that is set into the face of the button in a circular pattern. Each silk front has a lined pocket near the bottom, with a rectangular pocket flap. The border features two lengths of chain with a series of overlapping spangles in the center. This type of waistcoat is also called a gilet.

Cream waistcoats grew in popularity beginning in the 1780s and shorter waistcoats (of the length of this example) also began to appear in the 1780s. This coat is believed to have been owned by Thomas Richards, who was born in 1780, and would have been of the correct age to wear this waistcoat around 1800. This was assembled in Philadelphia, from waistcoat fronts that were decorated in Europe.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Haulman, Kate. 2011 The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth Century America.
• pg 185
[Book] Wass, Ann Buermann & Fandrich, Michelle Webb. 2010 Clothing Through American History: The Federal Era through Antebellum, 1786-1860.
• pg 137-38