1820s White cotton cap
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1820-1835 A woman's indoor cap in white cotton

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The cap from the side front
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The back of the cap
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Detail of the embroidered bands
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Detail of where the strings are attached at the side between the frills round the front
Description
The cotton has a self check consisting of solid stripes, ¹⁄₁₆ " wide, ⅛" apart sideways and ³⁄₁₆" apart lengthways, over a finer cotton ground.
The crown is gathered into ⅞" wide cotton bands with cutwork embroidery along them and rows of pulled-thread work ⅛" in from the edges. One goes over the top and joins another one at right-angles which runs round the lower edge of the back. A second band round the back is 1⅜" further up, and a bias cut band of the checked cotton, about 2" wide, is gathered between them; the back of the crown is gathered into the higher band.
The front of the cap is gathered into the other edge of the embroidered band over the top, and its front edge is gathered into a straight ⅞" wide band of the checked cotton. A frill of plain cotton, 1⅜" wide, sits on the join and is edged with lace, ¹¹⁄₁₆" wide. More of the same frill is underneath, on the front edge of the straight band, and this frill continues round the lower back edge of the cap, but is not joined at the centre back. The lace was made on the Pusher machine, invented in 1812, which could make credible imitations of hand made lace, but the cordonnet, the outline of motifs, had to be darned in by hand.
The checked cotton strings are 2¼" wide and 17½" long with slanted ends; they are attached to the cap at the ends of the straight band between the front frills, so the the frills on the edge of the cap would be pulled together under the chin when the strings are tied.
Contemporary illustrations
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Portrait Charlotte Luise Bennicke by Lodovico Giori, before 1827.Unidentified location
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Mary Joule by an unknown artist, before 1828. Staffordshire County Museum Collection
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Maria Ellenrieder by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein, 1832
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Christine Stampe by Christian Albrecht Jensen, 1827. Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen
History
In the early nineteenth century women usually wore some sort of head covering indoors, and sometimes added silk ribbons or other trimming to plain caps. They often wore their caps under a bonnet when they went out.
Contemporary items
More caps from the Hopkins Collection can be seen in Headwear, published by The School of Historical Dress and available from the Hopkins Costume Trust bookshop.