{"meta":{"version":"2.0","images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP9351/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP9351/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BP9351","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BP9350","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BP9349","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BP9348","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AR0177","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MT7766","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O117866/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O117866","accessionNumber":"T.12&A-1981","objectType":"Pair of waistcoat shapes","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This extraordinary length of embroidered silk documents three important aspects of 18th-century dress: the high quality of French needlework, the sequence of decorating and sewing up waistcoats and the efforts to which the British went to acquire desirable French fashions.\r\n\r\nTo make an embroidered waistcoat, the needlework was done first on two lengths of fabric, one for the left front and the other for the right front. The lengths, known as waistcoat shapes, were purchased at a silk mercers or haberdashers, then taken to a tailor for making up into a waistcoat. \r\n\r\nThe stamp seen on the inside of the lower right edge reads ‘Custom House / SEIZED DOVER / GR II’, indicating that this is contraband – a French waistcoat shape apprehended during an attempt to smuggle it into England during the reign of George II (1727–60). For most of the 18th century, imported French silks and laces were taxed heavily, in order to protect British textile industries. Smuggling of these and other taxable goods was rife through all levels of society; customs officials at British ports searched very carefully and seized any contraband items. Articles confiscated in this manner were usually burned, so the survival of this beautiful but forbidden object is indeed remarkable.","physicalDescription":"Pair of waistcoat shapes for a man’s waistcoat, each a loom-width of ivory silk taffeta, tamboured in silk floss in shades of pink and green in a pattern of roses. Each shape outlines a curving neckline, shaped pocket and pocket flap and skirts reaching to the mid-thigh. Along the left front are 12 rectangles for the buttonholes. Each shape has a British customs’ seizure stamp on the reverse.\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"C168"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"silk thread","id":"x30127"}],"techniques":[{"text":"hand weaving","id":"AAT53643"},{"text":"tambouring","id":"x38694"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silk; hand-woven, tamboured","categories":[{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2007BP9351","2007BP9350","2007BP9349","2007BP9348","2006AR0177","2020MT7766"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"2","id":"THES263058"},"free":"","case":"CA1","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"LAYDOWN","id":"THES296769"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Waistcoat shape","id":""}],[{"text":"Waistcoat shape","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1750-1759","earliest":"1750-01-01","latest":"1759-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"860","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"T.12:A-1981","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"555","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"T.12:A-1981","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"87.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"T.12-1981","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"55.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"approx","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"T.12-1981","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured by Conservation","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Customs House / SEIZED DOVER / GR II'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stamped in black ink on reverse of each part"}],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Lawrence Antiques. No further provenance available.","historicalContext":"Waistcoat panels worked like this were known as shapes in the 18th century. The areas of undecorated silk allowed the waistcoat to be cut and fitted to whatever size was required for the customer. ","briefDescription":"Pair of shapes for a man's waistcoat, France, 1750-1759; ivory silk taffeta tamboured with pink roses","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"North, Susan. 'The Physical Manifestation of an Abstraction: A Pair of 1750s Waistcoat Shapes', Textile History, 39:1, May 2008, pp. 92-104"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion, edited by Lesley Ellis Miller and Ana Cabrera Lafuente with Claire Allen-Johnstone, Thames and Hudson Ltd. in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom, 2021, pp. 386-387"},{"reference":{"text":"Miller, Lesley Ellis, and Ana Cabrera Lafuente, with Claire Allen-Johnstone, eds. Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2021. ISBN 978-0-500-48065-6.","id":"AUTH389403"},"details":"This object features in the publication Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion (2021)","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"flowers, roses","id":"x34733"},{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Waistcoat panel\r\n1750–60\n\nSome silks were professionally embroidered in the shape of the intended garment, as with this waistcoat front. The tailor then cut and sewed the textile to fit his client. French silks were highly desirable and heavily taxed when imported to Britain. This silk was smuggled into Britain and seized by customs officials at Dover, who stamped it on the reverse.\r\n\r\nFrance\r\nSilk, embroidered with silk\r\nStamped ‘Customs House/Seized Dover/GR II’","date":{"text":"09/12/2015","earliest":"2015-12-09","latest":"2015-12-09"}}],"partNumbers":["T.12A-1981","T.12-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Waistcoat shape [1]","Waistcoat shape [2]"],"assets":["2019LN2920","2019LU2071"],"recordModificationDate":"2023-03-28","recordCreationDate":"2005-10-25"}}