Dressing gown
Category
Costume
Date
1860
Materials
Camel hair
Place of origin
Afghanistan
Order this imageCollection
Carlyle's House, London
NT 263842
Summary
Camel hair robe, made in Afghanistan and worn by Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), 1860. Given to Carlyle by Sir Lewis Pelly (1825-92) as a token of his esteem. Possibly the dressing gown in which Carlyle was depicted when modelled by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-90) in 1874 (e.g. NT 263801). It may also be the coat in which Helen Allingham (1848-1926) painted Carlyle in 1879 (NT 263727).
Full description
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Lewis Pelly (1825-92) was a British East India Company officer, and then imperial army and political officer. Pelly was Secretary of the British Legation in Tehran (then Persia) from 1859 to 1860. Pelly travelled extensively and wrote, ‘I was lying one evening outside the walls of the Herat Fort, under the starlight, when it occurred to me that I was unaccountably calm and happy […] On reflection, I attributed my mental condition to the influence of Carlyle. […] The next morning I went into the bazaar and selected a finely woven camel’s hair robe… which reached Mr Carlyle in due course.’ (Lewis Pelly, "Glimpses of Carlyle," Fortnightly Review 51 [May 1892] 725–26)
Provenance
Made in Herat, Afghanistan, and purchased by Sir Lewis Pelly (1825-92) in 1860; given to Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) in 1860. Presented to the Carlyle's House Memorial Trust by G C Allingham.