Vest
A richly embroidered late 19th-century Eastern European festival vest of off-white leather, covered in colorful flowers and birds and edged with black fur. Full commentary ↓
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Vest is a textile by an unknown maker (fourth quarter 19th century) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 49.5 cm.
In the pictureThis sleeveless vest is shown on a mannequin. Its off-white leather ground is densely embroidered with flowers, leaves, and birds in red, yellow, green, and blue thread, and black fur edges the front opening, the neckline, and the armholes. The front closes with lacing, and the embroidery is symmetrical from left to right.
BackgroundEmbroidering sheepskin vests with flowers in this many colors is seen in the festive dress of rural Slovakia, Moravia, and Hungary, where village leatherworkers made them to set designs. The colors and density of the embroidery distinguished one village from another, and young men and women wore them to weddings and festivals. Cotton appears in the list of materials because the embroidery thread is cotton.
Puzzle tipMost of the pieces are embroidery, but the colors vary enough that checking against the preview pins down their positions. Fit the front lacing and the black fur border pieces first; for the embroidery, use the left-right symmetry, so that once one side is done the other follows. 100 pieces suits it.
- Classification
- Main dress-Menswear
- Medium
- leather, wool, cotton
- Dimensions
- 49.5 cm
- Credit line
- Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Brooklyn Museum Collection, 1924
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Five Embroidered Eastern European Garments, From Leather Coat to Beaded Blouse
From a fur-trimmed, aristocratic-style overcoat to a blouse embroidered with glass beads. Five embroidered Eastern European garments, each from a different country and in different materials, gathered in one place.
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