WOMAN'S BANYAN (indoor coat with small train), England, 18th - Lot 505

WOMAN'S BANYAN (indoor coat with small train), England, 18th century, cicra 1720 - 1730, flat-fold back, lightly padded cotton canvas, the background embroidered with straw yellow silk checks (reminiscent of the effect of Provençal boutis), the decoration embroidered in silk chain stitch in shades of green, red, blue and brown, of sprays of flowers and flowering twigs, lining and sleeves in green taffeta. It is an indoor garment that combines the traditional T-shape of a man's banyan inspired by the Japanese kimono and, at the same time, the flying dress, typical of the period. Although documented as having been worn throughout the 18th century, virtually no examples of this garment have survived. Hence the extreme rarity of the garment presented here. Notes: The banyan (from Portuguese banian and Arabic ????? banyan, from Tamil ???????, vaaniyan / ?????? vanigan, Gujarati ?????? va?iyo, meaning "merchant") is a garment worn by men and women in Europe in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, influenced by the Japanese kimono brought to Europe by the East India Company in the mid-seventeenth century. Indeed, in the 1650s, the introduction of the Japanese kimono into Western society by the Dutch East India Company launched the fashion of these simple, loose and comfortable garments, worn at first mostly by men, then adopted by women as well. The women's banyan would remain, like the men's banyan, a garment for informal use throughout the 18th century. It was worn over the whalebone body and petticoats in the privacy of the home, either in the morning before dressing for the day, or in the evening to receive visitors or before bed. The V&A, preserves the only known example of a woman's banyan at this date (accession number T.92-2003), it was however much modified, especially in the back, around 1750-1770 to better fit the fashion of the time. Like early male banyans, it combines the traditional T-shape of a kimono with a late modification of the conventional European shape of a woman's dress, especially in the back.