Shirt

Unknown

19th century · linen · Costume Institute

A shirt for the hero of Tom Jones, this linen origami of pleated shirting suggests the attention afforded to a gentleman's linens in the eighteenth century. The flare, or self-cravat, suggests the peacock that such a man was. This piece is a real rarity; there is one similar shirt in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

Artist

Unknown

Date

19th century

Medium

linen

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Cora Ginsburg, 1993