Jacket
Unknown Artist
1887
Medium
leather, wool, glass, metal, hair, silk
Dimensions
Length at CB: 22 in. (55.9 cm)
Classification
Outerwear-Menswear
Culture
Czech (Moravian)
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Museum Expedition 1920 & 1921, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 1921
Accession Number
2009.300.50
Art Historical Context
This striking leather jacket from 1887 hails from Moravia, a region in what is now the Czech Republic exemplifying the rich tradition of Central European folk costume. Crafted for men as outerwear, it measures 22 inches at center back and incorporates an eclectic array of materials: wool and silk for fabric elements, leather for structure, and intriguing accents of glass beads, metal ornaments, and even hair—likely human or animal, woven or embroidered for texture and symbolism. Such unconventional combinations highlight the ingenuity of anonymous Moravian artisans, who blended functionality w...