Nightcaps were worn by men from the sixteenth to the eighteenth
centuries, not simply for night attire, but for informal,
domestic day and evening wear, specifically after the 1660s, to
cover the head after removing the wig. Usually made of linen,
and often lavishly embroidered with coloured silks and metal
threads, they were made as close-fitting dome-shaped caps in the
seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century they became
looser, more like a turban, and were frequently worn with the
nightgown or banyan, again, not for bed but for informal
relaxing about the house, or even for entertaining family and
friends. The yellow nightcap in the main image dates from around
1700, and is entirely covered with floral embroidery on a split-
stitch yellow silk ground, with blue silk ties and trim. The
black and white print below shows an eighteenth century man
sitting at ease in a similar cap, having taken off his heavy hot
wig. The other embroidered cap below is more dome-shaped and
dates from the early seventeenth c