Showing posts with label clocked stockings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clocked stockings. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

The True British Tar, 1785


The True British Tar, Carington Bowles, 1785, British Museum.

Beyond the window lies a ship at anchor, but clearly our sailor is a bit more focused on the sacks of Spanish dollars he's procured. His table is scattered with coins and bedecked with bottles of Madeira. Lying against the box on which he sits is a neglected pipe, spilling its flames and smoking worryingly.


Our mariner wears a round hat lined with gold tape, and decorated with a blue bow (typical of works by Carington Bowles). Flowing from beneath is a wig with a long, tightly bound queue. Sailors of the eighteenth century wore their hair short, until just about this period when long and tightly bound queues begin to appear alongside should length and shorter hair styles. This is the earliest image I'm aware of that clearly shows a common sailor with a long, tightly bound pigtail or 'rattail.' His neckcloth is a sort of burgundy color, and fringed at the edges.


The jacket itself is blue, but it is impossible to tell if it is single or double breasted. Either way, it has brass buttons on both the front and the slash cuffs. Out of the jacket pocket, or perhaps spilling out through a rear vent, a burgundy handkerchief spotted in yellow hangs loose. His red waistcoat has white metal buttons, and a colorful blue ribbon and fob extends from beneath it.


Red striped trousers lead down to clocked stockings, pointed toe shoes, and yellow metal oval shaped buckles. The straps of his shoes are trained "sailor fashion."

Monday, February 3, 2014

An English Man of War, Taking a French Privateer, 1782


An English Man of War, Taking a French Privateer, Carington Bowles, 1782, National Maritime Museum.

Yet another in the Bowles' series of sailors a-courting to the language of naval engagement, our splendidly attired jack does his best to capture the interest of a handsome French lady.

His black round hat has a narrow brim and a large blue bow on the left side. Jack's blue jacket is lined in white and bears brass buttons on its lapel and slash cuff. The neckcloth is tied into a preposterously large and elaborate bow at his neck, between the open ends of his double breasted waistcoat. Patterned with vertical narrow red stripes, the waistcoat matches his trousers. An elaborate gold fob peeks from under his waistcoat. His stockings are a light blue, and his pointed toe shoes bear rectangular white metal buckles.