The museum Nordiska in Stockholm has a large collection of costume
related items and though a lot can be found at Digitalt museum, not everything has any photos. However, only recently pictures of a robe de cour bodice has
come up and I am sure that will interest many of you. The four robe de cour’s
preserved at Livrustkammaren were made for weddings and coronations and are
quite sumptuous. This bodice is much plainer, though it is cut in the same
style, a fully boned bodice, laced in the back with short sleeves. It is dated
to 1770-79 and is made of white silk drouget (a Swedish article on this kind of silk can be found here.), probably produced in Sweden. The
silk is cut and sewn together from nine pattern pieces.
The lining is made from
coarse unbleached linen, boned with whalebone, though it is reinforced with
vertical iron boning along the top front and there is also an iron busk. There
is probably a layer of glued paper between lining and the silk fabric.
The
short sleeves are made of ten small pieces and are pleated.
At the waist there
is a thin cord meant to attach the trail.
9 comments:
How interesting! Great find. And how refreshing to see that close-up of the inside and realise that not everything is A+ perfect :)
Wow!
Madame Berg: Quite refreshing, isn't it? :)
Kendra: I have been eyeing that entry at Digitalt museum for years, wishing for photos, so you can imagine that I squealed
Wow, it's incredible how stiff it is, almost like an armour!
I got to study this piece at Nordiska this summer, it's in really good condition, though the sewing on the bodice is very course (8 spi). There are a LOT of layers in the bodice and there is a layer of pasteboard over the boning to help smooth out the bodice. The sleeves are also boned, and the back hooks were once covered in the silk. Very petite in its size and very stiff. That's the additional information I can recall off the top of my head. :)
Eleonora Amalia: Oh yes. You didn't have to wear stays undernetah, it was built in. :)
Abby: How interesting! And how nice for you! :)Are the sleeves boned vertically or horizontally? I wonder if we don't have to thank you for the Pictures, a friend told me that Nordiska usually takes the chance to take Pictures when an item is unpacked for studying. :) Now I will go on hoping for a pair of leather stays which have a good description but no pics that I so want to see!
They're boned vertically, it's one of the reasons why they look the way they do. And...yeah, it was probably because of me. I was there in September, so it's pretty coincidental. :)
Post a Comment