Skirt Panel for a Woman's Sack Gown
Design March 1, 1749
Medium
Silk, plain weave foundation with supplementary patterning warps and supplementary brocading wefts
Dimensions
114.7 × 51 cm (45 1/8 × 20 1/8 in.); Warp repeat: H.: 66.1 cm (26 in.)
Classification
garment
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
143682
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Anna Maria Garthwaite is one of only a handful of 18th-century textile designers whose names we know today. Her carefully annotated drawings (in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) reveal her thorough understanding of European weaving technology. Her naturalistic and delicate floral fabrics have come to epitomize English taste of the mid-18th century. Evidence of this fabric’s use for a skirt can be seen at the top of the panel, where it was gathered into a seam at the wais...