Dressing gown, banyan

Man's dressing gown or banyan with false waistcoat fronts, in hand-painted Indian cotton. Lined with cream linen. Fastened by red and white plaited cords and buttons covered with a matching crochet or knitted fabric.

Banyans were semi-formal garments worn by men at home, over trousers and shirts, often paired with slippers, see for instance Andrew Geddess poirtrait of painter David Wilkie from 1816 in The National, National Galleries of Scotland. This type of gown was often made of printed, or as in this case hand-painted, Indian cotton.

When textile expert Natalie Rothstein examined this garment, she noted: 't'he total suggests the undress wear of an English official of the time in India - perhaps to be worn in a hill station when the evenings were cool since it has been carefully quilted (probably with cotton quilting)'.