Peascod belly
Padded belly fashionable for men in the 16th century
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A peascod belly is a type of exaggeratedly padded stomach that was very popular in men's dress in the mid-16th and early 17th centuries. The term has been said to have come from "peacock,"[1] though more likely it comes from the resemblance of the stomach shape in profile to a peapod, as "peascod" is an archaic form of the word.[2] Contemporary plate armour copies this fashionable silhouette,[3] which was sometimes called a "goose belly".[4]
In the late 16th century the stomach of the doublet was padded to stick out,[5] however, by 1625, the padding had become more evenly distributed over the chest area.[6]
Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, 1542, by Jakob Seisenegger
Charles V Standing with His Dog, by Titian
