- Title:
- dress
- Object name(s):
- dress; WOMEN'S CLOTHING - main garments
- Brief description:
- This elaborate court mantua from the 1720s possibly belonged to Lady Rachel Morgan, the wife of Sir William Morgan of Tredegar House, near Newport. Lady Rachel was the daughter of the Duke of Devonshire, and brought with her a dowry of £20,000. In the 1790s her descendants invested in industrial projects. They opened coal mines and iron works on their land and built canals and tramways. The mantua consists of an open-fronted gown and a matching petticoat. The blue damask, which is heavily embroidered with silver thread, was woven at Spitalfields in London, an area once known for its silk weavers and mercers. Although the gown was altered during the 1800s, probably to wear as fancy dress, it remains an outstanding example of its kind.
- Collection:
- Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales
- Acquisition method:
- Donation
- Dimension:
- height (mm):1400
- Dimension:
- width (mm):2000 (max)
- Dimension:
- depth (mm):1500 (max)
- Material:
- damask (silk)
- Material:
- metal thread
- Material:
- silver
- Material:
- parchment
- Material:
- flax (spun and twisted)
- Material:
- silk (spun and twisted)
- Number of objects:
- 1
- Object name:
- dress; WOMEN'S CLOTHING - main garments
- Object production date:
- 1720s
- Object production date:
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1/1/1720
- Date - latest:
- 31/12/1729
- Object production place:
- England
- Other number:
- 23.189.1
- Other number type:
- accession number
- Other number:
- Micromusée V6 SN:41781
- Other number type:
- other
- Ownership dates:
- 1720s
- Ownership place:
- Tredegar House
- Place status:
- wear
- Reproduction number:
- media-50847
- Reproduction number:
- media-61869
- Reproduction number:
- media-61870
- Reproduction number:
- media-61871
- Reproduction number:
- media-61872
- Reproduction number:
- media-61873
- Reproduction number:
- media-61874
- Reproduction number:
- media-107812
- Reproduction number:
- media-107821
- Reproduction number:
- media-107822
- Reproduction number:
- media-107823
- Reproduction number:
- media-107824
- Reproduction number:
- media-107825
- Reproduction number:
- media-107826
- Reproduction number:
- media-107827
- Reproduction number:
- media-107828
- Reproduction number:
- media-107829
- Reproduction number:
- media-107830
- Reproduction number:
- media-107831
- Reproduction number:
- media-107832
- Reproduction number:
- media-107833
- Reproduction number:
- media-107834
- Reproduction number:
- media-107835
- Reproduction number:
- media-107836
- Reproduction number:
- media-107837
- Reproduction number:
- media-107838
- Reproduction number:
- media-107839
- Reproduction number:
- media-107840
- Reproduction number:
- media-107841
- Reproduction number:
- media-107842
- Reproduction number:
- media-107843
- Reproduction number:
- media-107844
- Reproduction number:
- media-107845
- Reproduction number:
- media-107846
- Reproduction number:
- media-107847
- Reproduction number:
- media-107848
- Reproduction number:
- media-107849
- Reproduction number:
- media-107850
- Reproduction number:
- media-107851
- Reproduction number:
- media-107852
- Reproduction number:
- media-107853
- Reproduction number:
- media-107854
- Reproduction number:
- media-107855
- Reproduction number:
- media-107856
- Reproduction type:
- image
- Technique:
- metal thread embroidery
- Technique:
- hand sewn
- Technique:
- weaving
- User's reference:
- pp. 48-52. Copy in accession file.
- Reference type:
- bibliography
- User's reference:
- Lou Taylor, Establishing Dress History (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), p. 268. "Famously the museum also owns a vast hooped, brocaded silk gown worn by Lady Rachel Morgan in the 1718-24 period. Madeleine Ginsburg believed this to be a 'comparable' piece both to the future Empress Catherine's wedding dress in the Hermitage and to 'the most magnificent dress' in the V&A's collection, a vast English Court dress of the 1740s".
- Reference type:
- bibliography
- User's reference:
- M. R. Apted, 'Social Conditions at Tredegar House, Newport, in the 17th and 18th Centuries', The Monmouthshire Antiquary 3:2 (1972-3), pp. 124-54.
- Reference type:
- bibliography
- User's reference:
- Christine Stevens, 'Packages lately come from London: English Silks Worn by Welsh Gentry', Riggisberger Berichte 8 (2000), pp. 75-83. '...This garment had been remade and worn as fancy dress, probably during the 19th century, and was displayed in the National Museum in the late 1920s in an incorrect form. In 1971 it was returned to its original form, with the help of Janet Arnold, who has published a charted pattern. The later stitching was removed, which involved unpicking bust darts and the removal of stitching where the train had been caught up in several places, presumably to hide the fact that part of the train had been cut away. The front skirt had to be arranged carefully to allow the silver embroidery to show all around the petticoat. The petticoat itself had not been altered.' Copy in accession file.
- Reference type:
- bibliography
- User's reference:
- Avril Hart, 'The mantua: its evolution and fashionable significance in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries' in Amy de la Haye & Elizabeth Wilson (eds), Defining Dress: Dress as object, meaning and identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), pp. 93-103. Copy in accession file.
- Reference type:
- bibliography
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/94296c95-6cdb-3b21-8bc6-133867610992
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/94296c95-6cdb-3b21-8bc6-133867610992, Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales, CC BY-NC
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