Fashion — 1780
Dress, dress fragment
According to the register entry, this fragment of richly decorated fabric was part of the petticoat or underskirt of a formal court dress made for the French queen, Marie Antoinette. Monsieur Besnard, an employee of the French royal ward-robe, is said to have brought it to England in anticipation of the Queen's escape from France after the Revolution. When Marie Antoinette was guillotined in 1793, the Besnard family cut up the garment and shared out the pieces as relics of the dead queen. Donated by a descendant of Monsieur Besnard.
- Category:
- Fashion
- Object ID:
- 32.149a
- Object name:
- dress, dress fragment
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- —
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- 1780
- Material:
silk, paste (glass), metal (unidentified)
- Measurements/duration:
- H 1120 mm, W 650 mm, D 15 mm (edge) (board), H 1060 mm, W 585 mm (overall width), W c. 520 mm (main part) (overall)
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 60%
- 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.