Man's court waistcoat, 1780-85, British; white silk taffeta with silver strip, embroidered with silk, metal spangles, altered 1963-74 Man’s waistcoat with a round neckline, curving fronts and skirts reaching to the top of the thigh. Each front has a pocket and pointed pocket flap. The fronts and pocket flaps are made of white silk taffeta striped with silver strip, the back of white worsted. The waistcoat and pockets are lined with linen; the front skirt and pocket-flap linings and front facings are white silk twill. The waistcoat is embroidered-to-shape with silver, silver-gilt and red foil spangles, white, yellow, green and brown silk floss, in a pattern of abstract floral sprigs and entwined lines, on the pocket flaps, front edges and hems, and below the pockets. The fronts are embroidered in with spangles. There are 13 worked buttonholes along the left front with 13 passementerie buttons on the right front. The waistcoat was altered after acquisition for display in the Circulation department. The back seam was unpicked, probably for display in a frame, then resewn with a wide piece of linen and one of calico in the centre-back seam.