18th Century kilt and sporran

[figheadair]

I may be over thinking this, and I may also be giving the artist more credit than I should, but with the separate plaid and feileadh beag theory in mind:

Is it me, or does it look like the "plaid" portion has notably bolder colors than the "feileadh beag" section? Like what might happen if the lower portion saw a lot more wear than the upper portion?

I think this shows a true feileadh mor. Your confusion is, allowing for artistic licence, due to what appears to be a large plaid setting. Bear in mind that the plaid section is a right angles to the kilted section.



I've circled the features that appear to be the same part of the sett (note how even these have slight 'artistic' differences) and then placed a straight line in the apron and the corresponding section of the plaid which I believe to be the same. You'll see that it's possible to account for the differences you speculate.

I doubt that fading would remove completely the broad darker sections circled.

What's also interesting is why the doublet is painted unfastened in the middle. Perhaps that was a gentrified/courtly fashion at the time.

[Ryan Ross]

I think this shows a true feileadh mor. Your confusion is, allowing for artistic licence, due to what appears to be a large plaid setting. Bear in mind that the plaid section is a right angles to the kilted section.



I've circled the features that appear to be the same part of the sett (note how even these have slight 'artistic' differences) and then placed a straight line in the apron and the corresponding section of the plaid which I believe to be the same. You'll see that it's possible to account for the differences you speculate.

I doubt that fading would remove completely the broad darker sections circled.

What's also interesting is why the doublet is painted unfastened in the middle. Perhaps that was a gentrified/courtly fashion at the time.

Ah!!! Thanks so much, good sir, as I certainly see what you mean now... and goodness, but that IS a very large set, compounded by being worn on a smallish person, I suppose.

Examining these old pictures really is interesting though, and I'm seeing more and more how much practice is involved in picking out certain types of details, such as how tartan is often rendered with a grain of salt and must be "read" accordingly.