Fashion — 1851-1919
Skull cap, performance skull cap
Skull cap constructed from strings of pearls and held together by a rigid oval metal frame set with coloured paste stones. Adelina Patti wore it when performing in opera at Covent Garden.
There are two other headpieces made of pearls in this collection, A23255/33d and A23255/67.
Adelina Patti (1843-1919) was a soprano born into a musical Italian family. She grew up in the Bronx in New York City. In 1861, aged 18, Patti performed to great acclaim at Covent Garden in ‘La sonnambula’ and appeared there in every season until 1884. She also sang worldwide, especially in Europe. The highest earning singer of her era, Patti married three times. One of the characters in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ refers to ‘Patti singing divinely’, and Patti’s portrait was painted by Winterhalter, among others.
- Category:
- Fashion
- Object ID:
- A23255/53
- Object name:
- skull cap, performance skull cap
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- —
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- 1851-1919
- Material:
paste, plastic, metal
- Measurements/duration:
- L 94 mm (front to back), W 169 mm
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
- Copyright holder:
digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.