{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1500957"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1500957/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MH4943/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MH4943/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MH4943","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1500957","accessionNumber":"T.208-2019","objectType":"Dress","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Fashion in the middle of the 1820s saw the continued transition towards the voluminous sleeves and skirts which were to  dominate fashion in the middle of the nineteenth century. Competition in the flourishing market for printed dress materials encouraged developments in printing technology, dyes and design in Britain and mainland Europe.  \r\n\r\nThe long sleeves and high neckline identify this dress as day wear. It has been expertly cut, with the sleeves on the bias to  create a spiral effect and the ruffled decoration of the skirt displays the vertical pattern on a horizontal axis. The stylised  plant and coral forms are very typical of designs of the 1820s and their abstract, graphic qualities appeal to  21st-century  viewers.. In the 1830s, attempts to imitate the grid effect of woven ‘Paisley’ shawls in cheaper printed versions led to a  short period of remarkable abstraction in the design of some printed textiles.\r\n\r\n\t","physicalDescription":"A day dress of cotton muslin, printed with a repeating pattern of stylised plantforms or coral in wide stripes of red and khaki, between a narrow yellow patterned stripe of coral shapes. The dress has a scooped, slightly padded neckline, defined with bright yellow piping to tone in with the yellow printed motifs. It has long sleeves, wide and puffed at the upper arms, narrowing to deep pointed cuffs which are also edged with yellow piping. At the shoulders, fullness is gathered into the shoulder seam which is hidden with small piped 'epaulettes'. Fullness in the bust is gathered into the centre-front of the waist seam. The dress closes at the centre-back with a hook and eye at the neck and waist seam. The bodice is lined with white cotton and there is a narrow waist tape of white cotton. The skirt is flat at the front but is deeply gathered into the waist across the back panel. The skirt is decorated from knee to hem with six horizontal ruffles, the upper three attached in undulating lines, the lower three straight, all trimmed with yellow piping.\n\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"muslin","id":"AAT14087"}],"techniques":[{"text":"block printing","id":"AAT53289"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Dr Philip Sykas dates the textile to about 1824-5, referring to  a page from a dated pattern book at Bolton Record Office (Thomas and Robert Comstive, 1824, Bolton Museums: IND.42- 1983 a and b), which shows roughly similar designs imitating the linear patterns achieved through the roller printing  method. However, the fine cotton muslin of this dress was printed using carved wooden blocks which were ‘coppered’  with inserted metal pins and strips to create the detail of the pattern. This is clear from the registration marks in the pattern  design, which reveal a typical hand block size of just over 9 x 6 inches. It was not unusual for woodblocked patterns to  imitate roller printed patterns in this way. The red and brown/green branch motifs would have been achieved with madder  dyes and mordants. The bright yellow meandering coral strip was probably printed with quercitron, a natural dye made  from the yellow internal bark of the Black Oak tree. It would be useful to confirm this with dye analysis because the mineral  dye Chrome yellow was also available from the mid 1820s. \r\n\r\nDr Sykas also points out that it is possible that this print was produced in France at this date because similar designs and  technology were available in both France and Britain. \r\n\t ","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Day wear","id":"THES49000"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2019MH4943"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES307377"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"dress","id":"AAT224227"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1825-1830","earliest":"1825-01-01","latest":"1830-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Day dress of cotton muslin printed with a design of coral and branches in yellow, red and brown. Probably British, 1825-1830","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.208-2019"],"accessionNumberNum":"208","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2019,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2019-07-01","availableToBook":true}}