Nightcap
Unknown Artist
ca. 1835
Medium
Linen
Classification
Nightcap
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Alvah E. Reed, 1966
Accession Number
2009.300.5488
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century American sleepwear with *Nightcap*, a delicate linen accessory dating to around 1835. Crafted by an unknown artist, this piece from the Costume Institute exemplifies everyday fashion from early America, when nightcaps were essential for keeping the head warm during chilly nights and protecting elaborate hairstyles under nightcaps or mob caps. Linen, a lightweight and breathable natural fiber derived from flax, was a prized material for undergarments and sleepwear due to its durability and comfort against the skin. In the 1830s, amid the Jacksonian ...