Help Dating a Pair of Antique Mittens

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Lily K.Chadwick

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Hi, I recently picked up the following pair of antique knitted mittens and was wondering if you could all please help me in dating them. I've found a few similar pairs from the 18th century, but am far from sure of this, so would appreciate any assistance you can give.
Thanks in advance,
Kind Regards,
Lily
 

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Those are gorgeous! Do make sure you provide appropriate storage for them, as they will be worth preserving correctly.
I found this museum website the most helpful, you may have looked at it already but this pair seem to be very similar. I think the photos are a little misleading because all the gloves appear to be shown on custom made supports and this is not explained, so it covers some of the design, such as the gold finger covers shown in your example:
http://www.glovecollectioncatalogue.org/23402 A.html
 
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Pinkcoke - Thanks ever so much for your response. Though I'd seen those gloves, I hadn't found my way to the actual website, I really appreciate the link! Also, as to storage, would acid free tissue paper and a card box be adequate for storage? If not, what would you recommend? Kind Regards

poppysvintageclothing - Thanks! I've found a few different examples, each with different details which are a match to those on mine and which make me lean toward late 17th century to early 18th:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/pair-of-mitts-46304 - 17th Century - structurally similar and with a silver woven metallic back(would that be brocade?)
http://metmuseum.org/art/collection...20&pg=14&rndkey=20131219&ao=on&ft=*&deptids=8 - 17th century - identical fringing, but otherwise not at all alike

Again, thanks ever so much for your comments and whatever help has/will be given, I've enjoyed researching these so much already!
 
Gosh those mittens are quite a find!
I studied some mittens like this during my Churchill fellowship, and they were early 18th Century.
The museum of Costume in bath had/has a fantastic collection of period gloves.
 
The Bath museum of Costume will be hosting a lot of the gloves from the collection I linked to Gayle from 2016-2017, it may have been part of their collection you saw previously (belonging to Dents glovemakers). I hope to see this exhibition of accessories - they say the gloves will make a large portion of it so I think it will be stunning.
 
sewingmachinegirl and Pinkcoke - Thanks ever so much for your replies! I was wondering if by any chance the Bath Museum of Costume's collection is digitalized, as I'd love to have a look through it!
 
I believe not, but they tend to host major exhibitions consisting of lots of items from elsewhere that are online, such as the swimwear from Symmington (Leicestershire County Council) or items borrowed on a theme from the V&A etc.
 
Pinkcoke said:
I believe not, but they tend to host major exhibitions consisting of lots of items from elsewhere that are online, such as the swimwear from Symmington (Leicestershire County Council) or items borrowed on a theme from the V&A etc.
Click to expand...

What a shame Melanie if they still haven't been able to digitise the collection! . They have most amazing gloves I have ever seen.

Lily- Check out the detail below on one of the pairs I studied, depicting the story of Jonah and the Whale.. These are from the Spence Collection at Bath, date unknown.
Catologue number is : BATMC GLO 233 45

Picture12.jpg
 
Thanks MS its so good to share these things, I have thousands of reference photos from my Churchill trip back in 2005.
The gloves were just so amazing- I spent half a day just studying the glove collection in Bath .:)
 
Many thanks for all of you replies!

Pinkcoke - That's a shame! I'd have loved to browse what sounds like an amazing collection! Do you happen to know if there are any exhibition catalogues available?

Ikranieri - Thanks ever so much, I'll definitely have to have a look at them!

sewingmachinegirl - Those are absolutely incredible! I particularly like the detail on the flowers. Do you happen to have any additional photos of knit gloves of this era?

Lastly, the gloves arrived just today and are a little more detailed than they appear in photos, as the diamond detailing varied between gold and (slightly discoloured) silver! I'll try to get a couple of clearer photos tomorrow.
 
Better Dresses Vintage - Thanks ever so much!

Also, here are a few clearer photos, which though not as close a match as the original photos when it comes to the red colour of the knit, should better show some of the other details.

Thanks again for everyone's help, it's been very much appreciated!
 

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WOW those are absolutely stunning and in amazing condition from the looks of it! Were they an antique store/estate find?
 
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