Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Man’s Morning Gown (Banyan)
Not on view
The Indian palampore-inspired floral designs on this cotton fabric are more typically seen in expensive French dress silks of the mid-eighteenth century. The surface of the cotton, produced in India for the French market, is enlivened by labor-intensive gilding and burnishing, elevating the cotton to an exotic luxury fabric. This outfit would have been reserved for private encounters and the gold leaf would have glittered in a candle-lit room. The matching banyan and waistcoat are exhibited together here for the first time since the two pieces were purchased by different museums almost eighty years ago.
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