Jacket
Unknown Artist
1700–1799
Medium
silk, metallic thread
Classification
Jacket
Culture
European
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 1978
Accession Number
1978.279
Art Historical Context
Step into the opulent world of 18th-century European fashion with this exquisite *Jacket*, crafted from luxurious silk and shimmering metallic thread sometime between 1700 and1799. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume—acquired through a 1978 purchase supported by the Friends of the Institute—this garment exemplifies the era's lavish textile artistry. Silk, a prized import often woven in Lyon or Spitalfields, provided a soft, lustrous base, while metallic threads—likely silver or gold lamé—added a regal gleam, catching candlelight in grand salons or ballrooms. In an age of Rococo...