AWESOME

[chocolatepot]

Sometimes I get so fixated on the pattern that I disregard other things. Someone on Tumblr pointed out that the brocaded mantua looks like a Spitalfields silk, so now I'm trying to date it. And the pattern definitely seems pretty 1740s, not 1760s - spidery stems and colorful, small flowers, spaced apart. (1, 2, 3, 4 ... here is the search page at the VAM, you can see for yourself.) Which is very cool.

They seem to have all of Garthwaite's designs at the VAM. I'm going to find the original!