Unique A woman's gown, 1780-85, Scottish; Cream silk lustring painted with sprays of flowers, butterflies, British A woman's gown of cream silk lustring painted with sprays of naturalistic flowers and butterflies in greens, pinks, yellow, blues and black. The gown is open at the front with elbow-length sleeves. The bodice and skirt are cut separately and stitched at the waist. The bodice and sleeves are lined with bleached linen; the left sleeve is weighted, weight missing from the right sleeve. The back is made of 4 shaped pieces tapering to a point at centre back, below the waist. The skirt is made of 3 widths of silk with a partial panel and triangular gore on each side of the front. The skirt is finely pleated into the waist seam; the pleats held in place with stitching 2cm and 4 cm below it. There are pocket openings in the side seams of the skirt.The hem is faced with white silk taffeta. The front edges are curved, and cut following the shape of a painted border. The ruching is of painted-to-shape silk wi th a similar border and smaller versions of the flower and butterfly motifs. This is gathered into padded vertical puffs, gathered at intervals and trimmed with green silk ribbon bows, and arranged in a zig-zag down each front of the skirt.