cap & nightcap

Summary

Linen cap, embroidered over entire surface with yellow silk and coloured silks. Cut in four sections, each embroidered with a large floral spray in coloured silks in satin and stem stitch, petals embroidered in red, salmon pink and cream, leaves shaded in green, light green and yellow, central veins of leaves in silver strip; base of each flower couched in silver thread; background embroidered with yellow silk in split-stitch; lined with blue silk, blue silk turned-back brim (flush with cap), turned up more at centre front edged with silver bobbin lace, blue ribbon drawstring at bottom edge; button, latticed in silver strip, at top of crown.

Display Label

Nightcaps were worn by men from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, not simply for night attire, but for informal, domestic day and evening wear, specifically after the 1660s, to cover the head after removing the wig. Usually made of linen, and often lavishly embroidered with coloured silks and metal threads, they were made as close-fitting dome-shaped caps in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century they became looser, more like a turban, and were frequently worn with the nightgown or banyan, again, not for bed but for informal relaxing about the house, or even for entertaining family and friends. The yellow nightcap in the main image dates from around 1700, and is entirely covered with floral embroidery on a split-stitch yellow silk ground, with blue silk ties and trim. The black and white print below shows an eighteenth century man sitting at ease in a similar cap, having taken off his heavy hot wig. The other embroidered cap below is more dome-shaped and dates from the early seventeenth century. It is highly decorated with silk and silver thread embroidery and stitched with popular classical motifs like the phoenix and the obelisk surrounded by a scrolling leaf and flower design. Blackwork caps were also common, as were white linen ones, quilted for warmth, or trimmed with expensive bobbin or needlelaces.