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Materials: Dress: silk and cotton twill, brass hooks,
linen ties, cotton muslin bodice lining, cotton & silk cord trim. Shawl:
gold and silver silk damask surah (twill
weave).
Label: Inside at the back of the
neckline is a series of embroidered characters (letters or numbers) in
red floss.
Condition: Dress is Excellent.
Fabric is foxed, one period mend and two of the brass hooks replaced
with metal. Construction has not been altered! Shawl Excellent. few
small mends and faint stains.
Measurements: 
Dress: Sh-Sh,
13.5"; B, 36"; W, 27"; L, 55"; Slv L, 22.5";
Hem C, 88". Shawl: 50" x 52".
Comments: A mark of status
in the early 19th C. was for a lady to own a silk dress. Silk yardage
was very costly, so fabric manufacturers offered "half-silks" for sale.
Half-silks were woven with a silk warp and a cotton weft. These fabrics
significantly reduced the cost of a "silk" dress, making it
possible for a lady of the middle class to own one. With this
early 19th C. half-silk dress one sees gold silk on the fabric's front
side and light brown cotton on the under-side. The dress has an
apron-front construction; the upper bodice hooks at the neckline, deep
side slits in the skirt are pleated at the "waist" and tied at the
center back. Beautiful tiny stitching is found throughout this dress.
The lovely damask gold shawl has a large floral border pattern with
smaller flowers covering the ground. Shawl dates to the 1830s. The two
pieces were originally purchased together by an American collector,
possibly in England, sometime in the mid 20th C.
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