Description: The silk for this dress was woven around 1740 with a design of peonies, carnations and tulips. The robe was later re-modelled in the late 1700s, and the bead trimming added later, perhaps in the early 1900s. See image 55637 for detail of the silk's woven design.
When this dress was first made it was the fashion to wear hooped underskirts. This caused much comment: “I believe everyone has observed to what pains a lady is put to reduce that wide extended petticoat to the narrow limits of a [Sedan] chair”.