Casgliadau Arlein

Man's coat, about 1725. English or French in origin. Probably worn by Sir William Morgan of Tredegar House, Newport.

Yellow lace pattern silk brocade, with elaborate floral and leaf motifs picked out in white, red, pink, orange, blue and two shades of green. Woven gold trimming and tassels on front and sleeves. Low stand-up collar with fitted body and flared skirt. Eight button holes with corresponding buttons on either side of centre front, which suggest that the coat can be done up by both folding left over right or vice versa. There is an additional button closure at the collar. This can only be done up by buttoning the left button hole onto the button which sits on the right of the collar. However, if the row of buttons at the centre front are done up, the button and button hole at the collar are spaced too far apart to be done up. It is not clear how this would have been worn.

There are slits at either side of hip which allow access to the inside of the garment, as well as to a pocket. The coat is fully lined with yellow silk that is woven in a way to create a fine zig-zag pattern (apart from a section at the inner left sleeve which is lined with undyed glazed cotton. There is a centre back seam running all the way down the length of the garment with additional wedge-shaped sections to make up the width of the skirt. A rectangular section of the lining fabric has been inserted in line with the third and fourth button from the top. There are 17cm long slits at the cuffs that close up with two metal thread-covered buttons. There are 13cm long slits at lower side seams.