Materials: Fine linen cambric with Broderie Anglaise lace, Mechlin
lace, 4 whalebone stays (one missing); lining: silk faille, windowpane buckram;
brass and steel hooks and eyes. Lining construction shows the quality of
workmanship that went into this piece: the silk lining has a narrow pleated silk
ruffle with a 5.5" band of the Broderie Anglaise lace sewn on top.
The silk ruffle is lined with a 15" band of pleated and lace trimmed
buckram.
Provenance: Mary Augusta Richards Bullard
(MRB) was born in 1847 in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her parents were Mary Caroline
Lewis and Augusta Corey Richards. MRB's childhood was spent in the upper
Manhattan mansion known as Woodcliff House. (Decades later John D. Rockefeller
purchased the mansion and grounds and built the Cloisters on this site.)
In 1871 Mary Augusta Richards, at the family's Irvington, N.Y. home, "Ridgeview",
married John Bullard. Bullard, a prosperous lawyer took his bride back to
his home town of Dedham, Massachusetts. Mary Augusta Richards Bullard died
in 1926. Please click here for complete family provenance.
Label: Stamped in gold on the waistband
of the skirt (no longer visible due to laundering): "Miss. Slattery 16
Boylston St. Boston"
Condition: Excellent, near perfect.
Silk lining has a few small breaks in the jacket and skirt, but really is in
remarkable shape. The stays are wearing through the silk in a couple of spots.
There are a few very tiny brown stains in the back of the skirt and in one
small area in the front. The beautiful all over lace is in wonderful condition.
Measurements: Jacket: B, 32"; W,
21"; Sh-Sh, 11.5"; Sh-W, 12"; Slv L, 21". Skirt: W,
23"; skirt L, 40"; Hem C, 95", lining Hem C, 78".
Comments: Afternoon gowns of this caliber
rarely come available on the market. This one, magnificent in its own
right, has the added cachet of an intriguing and complete family history.
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