Case 8 - Miniature Clothing

Case 8 - Miniature Clothing

Our understanding of what children wore in the past comes from depictions in art, written descriptions and surviving clothing. This can result in a distorted picture, as unusual or special clothing particularly of the rich was more likely to be recorded or preserved.

Whilst some children’s clothes from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries look like those of a miniature adult, these were probably for ‘Sunday best’. Everyday wear, such as the clogs, was plainer and better adapted to the active lifestyles of children.

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
1744

Boy and Girl by John Faber II, 1744. In this print, the boy and girl have exchanged... [Read more...]

St Edmundsbury Heritage Service
1750 - 1775

A small linen coat for a child, made from Indian chintz. During the eighteenth century, middle... [Read more...]

University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
19th century

Clogs were common throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in the north... [Read more...]

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
1752

Painted on this Delftware mug is an image of a father holding the hand of his young daughter. At... [Read more...]

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