Postillion Jacket
Date1800-1825
OriginEngland
MediumYellow wool broadcloth; tabby cotton lining
DimensionsOL: 19 3/4" CHEST: 36"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1954-1042,1
DescriptionShort jacket of yellow napped wool in plain weave. The fitted, waist-length jacket has a low standing collar. It is closed with 8 closely set, self-covered buttons and buttonholes down front. False pockets are trimmed with 6 buttons each. The fitted shaped sleeves are slightly gathered at the top of the shoulders. Sleeves end in 3-inch buttoned cuffs. Natural color cotton lining with an interior pocket on the left breast. Pocket has vertical- entry flap.Construction History:
1. 1800-1825: Initial Construction
2. December 15, 1955: Cleaning and restoring, adding buttons, taking out machine stitching, adjusting buttonholes. Work by Ernest LoNano.
Label TextWork clothing tends to be conservative in style and difficult to date precisely. Although this jacket resembles some garments of the 1780s, the keyhole-shaped buttonholes and gathers at the top of the sleeve suggest it was made in the nineteenth century. Inked on the lining are the words "F. Gregory" (in all caps) and "Post-boy" in script. Postboys were young men who rode one of the horses drawing a coach when there was no coachman. Frank Gregory was one of the models who posed for painter Frank Moss Bennett, in whose collection the jacket was held.
MarkingsInked on lining, "F. Gregory/ Post-boy". According to Maureen Son, Frank Gregory was F. M. Bennett's model. See Maureen Elizabeth Son, Frank Moss Bennett 1874-1952 (The Forgotten Artist) (Enfield, Middlesex: Son Publishing, 2006), pp. 8-9.
ProvenanceEx coll: Frank Moss Bennett, British history painter.
