Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows an unidentified English boy wearing a heavily decorated checked vested cut-away jacket suit. The suit is done with heavy piping. Notice the leaf-like black knee patchs. We are not sure if that was just a decoration or designed to prevent wear at the knee level. Alao notice what looks like a bklack patch on the jacket. We beliece that might b poart of a decorative back belt. The piortrait was undated, but looks klike the 1870s. The studio was W.J. Laurence in Cheltenham.

Sometimes worked in to the embroidery were patches done in a variety of shapes. Some look rather like leaf patterns. Patches were most commonly used ion the pants. Most of the decoration on cut-away jacket suits was usually done on the jacket. Patches were an exception While they were one of the least used decorations, when used we usually see them on the pants. We are not sure about the fabrics used. In some cases they seem to be velvet. We are not sure about the utility of the patches. We think that they were primarily decorative, but there may be utility. This is something that is very difficult to assess from just the studio photographic record. And during the 1870s when we see most of these highly decorative suits, almost all the photographic record consists of studio record.

Created: 8:19 PM 8/12/2024
Last updated: 8:19 PM 8/12/2024