In Search of Foreign Embroidery: Men’s 18th c. Embroidered costume

Edward Maeder built on research that he began ten years previously, investigating a 1749 English Act of Parliament that banned the wearing of “foreign embroidery and brocade in silk, silver or gold...procured in foreign parts” that was subject to seizure and burning. A 100 pound fine per item could be applied to the person who “sold” the garment. Maeder was interested in determining what criteria, if any, distinguished English embroidery from French embroidery: any design, aesthetic, or technical markers that distinguished the products of one nation from the other. In doing so, he intended to shed light on the socio-cultural context in which they were made and worn throughout the 18th century. He utilized the ROM’s extensive collection of 18th century embroidered textiles either already made into or intended to become items of dress.