Dame de qualité

Dame de qualite, 1688. Elegantly dressed woman seated on a bench with a dog at her feet. Inscription: ‘Dame de qualite/ Pendant que cette belle avec negligence/On peut connoistre a son triste maintien/Veut par ses doigt flatteur faire dancer son chien/ Qu’elle a dans son esprit affaire d’importance/Chez H Bonnart vis a vis les Mathurins au Coq avec priv/.

The lady is wearing a mantua with the skirt characteristically pinned back. She is wearing opagloves and on her head is a fontange, a high structure consisting of wires, lace, silk and hair. On her face are several patches, fake beauty marks made from fabric.

Henry Bonnart was one of four brothers (Nicolas, Henry, Robert and Jean-Baptiste) who were all engravers and sellers of engravings. They were especially active in the last quarter of the seventeenth century and are mostly known for their production of fashion plates.

British Museum Online Catalogue, inventory number: 1938,0311.6.183.

Further reading
Colas, R., Bibliographie Generale du Costume et de la Mode. Description des suites, recueils, series, revues et livres Français et etrangers relatifs au costume civil, militaire et religieux, aux modes, aux coiffures et aux divers accessoires de l’habillement, avec une table methodique et un index alphabetique, Paris 1933, entry 2629.

Reynolds, A., In fine Style. The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, London 2013.

Ribeiro, A., Fashion and Fiction. Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England, London 2005.