Bodice

Bodice made from English silk, 1750-55.
Catalogue note by Natalie Rothstein: White taffeta ground brocaded with gold and silver strip and gold clinquant and coloured silks with branches in metal thread sprouting roses and carnations. A meander of silver leaves links the branches. This was surely a Court Dress comparable to the Fanshawe dress. There is a white pattern weft which forms a self-coloured meander to the side of the central brocaded one. This is bound in 2/1 twill by a proportion of the ground warp threads. The metal strip was bound by a fine warp in a brick effect - nearly all worn away. The brocaded silks are unbound. Material width: 20 1/4 ins; selvage: 1/8 ins. Repeat width: single comber; length: 20 1/2 ins.
Condition: used as a wedding dress in 1851 and much of the metal thread broken. Some stains.