Description:
Man's frock coat in the riding or frock style in striped silk in olive-green or black, red, green-blue, and yellow. A frock coat, from the French word frac or fraque, was the name given to a style of the coat that developed by the mid-18th century made with a turned-down collar, looser fit, and often the absence of a waist seam. The coat was possibly owned by the Dexter family of Boston and passed on to Samuel Dexter (1761-1816) of Boston, who became a lawyer and served as Secretary of the Treasury in 1801 and Secretary of War in 1800. After serving in Washington under president John Adams, Dexter returned to Boston in 1805. The coat has a folded-over collar that is 3 3/4" wide, extending into medium width reverse. The coat is secured by eight large, flat self fabric buttons, starting under the proper right reverse and extending just past the waist area. Only the top second and third worked button holes are usable; the rest are ornamental. The front edges of the coat angle slightly towards the back to narrow skirts. The center back vent, collar, and pocket flaps are edged with seafoam blue-green piping. Pleats and matching buttons also decorate the skirt back. The hip-level flap pockets, one on each side of front, are edged with matching piping and faced around the edges with the matching sea-foam blue-green silk. The coat has a narrow silhouette, with the armscyes of the set in sleeves a fairly wide diameter. The sleeves, which are cut as coat sleeves (two seams) to follow the natural bend in the arm, have the matching piping to form fake cuffs, and are secured at each cuff by two matching buttons. The inside bodice sides, skirts, as well as the underside of collar and each pocket flap, are lined with silk satin in the seafoam green-blue. The center back of the bodice is lined in an off-white twill weave cotton.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Cotton; polychrome; Silk Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.802 |
