Coat

A striking combination of green and blue enlivens this plain frock coat of the late 1780s. The most fashionable coat styles for men featured fronts curving sharply back, a high turned-down collar and long tight sleeves. By the 1780s the side pleats had moved towards the centre back seam, and were much less voluminous than in previous decades.

The buttons were worked in embroidery silks matching the colours of the coat, probably over a wooden base. The design is quartered; each quartering is created by a type of needle-weaving where the silk threads are laid side-by-side, then passed over and under each other.