Materials: Cream silk damask woven with a
jacquard floral pattern with polychrome silks and brown chenille; linings, silk faille
and homespun linen; 10 pair hand hammered brass eye-hooks and one stay
(whalebone?) in center back.
Provenance: This rare piece came from the
personal collection of a friend of mine. He purchased it some years ago
and was told the bodice originally came from Portugal.
Condition: Excellent, nearly flawless
inside and out. Eye-hooks have all been re-sewn at some time in this
piece's history.
Measurements: Sh-Sh, 14"; B,
34"; W, 27"; Slv L, 14.5"; Sh-W, 12".
Comments: This marvelous bodice is a
perfect example of the 18th century woman's conically shaped torso. To close the
bodice, a silk cord or ribbon would have laced through the front eye-hooks.
The sumptuous fabric (prob. French) pre-dates the construction by several
decades - fabric is prob. c. 1750-1765. A very similarly shaped bodice is
pictured on page 31 of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1998 exhibition catalog,
"The Ceaseless Century". In his description of the Met's bodice,
Richard Martin states that, "the Pierrot as a shaped bodice flourishes in
that last gasp of rococo sensibility and extreme silhouette of about 1780-90.
The flared peplum extension of the jacket below the waist asymmetrically around
the back allows for the bulbous, billowing skirt of the period... The simple
low-necked bodice is characteristic of the period..."
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