Description:
Reinforced bodices, worn either underneath fashionable clothing or as a hybrid outer garment, have been in fashion in Europe and England since at least the 17th century. This pair of child's stays or jumps is embroidered all over in a polychrome, dense floral design that includes carnations. Embroidery stitches include satin, French knots, and a variant stem stitch (poss. chain stitch). Embroidery colors include three shades of blue; four shades of orange; two shades of green, and yellow.Two embroidered birds face each other in profile on the center front. Each bird's eye consists of couched metallic thread with a black glass bead in the center (proper right bead now missing). The stays are back-fastening, securing with five worked eyelet holes, for lacing. Until the twentieth century, an emphasis was placed on correct posture for both boys and girls, who were trained from a young age to have the correct posture, with a conical torso shape slightly convex in the front. This decorative example may have been visible when worn, covering a chemise or bodice while the child was getting accustomed to such garments. There are no shoulder straps configured into the construction of this pair.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+F.423 |
