Front	Side	Back

   

Detail

   

Prussian Blue Brocaded Open Robe and Petticoat Apron
Unknown maker, possibly from France.
Textile from the mid eighteenth century, gown altered severely afterwards.
Lent by the Helen Clark Ward Costume Collection,
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio.
R. T. Miller, Jr., Fund, 1948
KSUM L1995.17.60ab (48.161)
Non-original lace at the neckline, reproduction necklace,
stomacher, engageantes (sleeve-ruffles) and shoes.

Shown with:
Painted Horn Fan
Unknown maker and place of origin, eighteenth century.
Gift of the Luanna Stahlecker Estate
No number

Retaining some semblance of the loosely flowing pleated back construction of the robe à la Française's, the fabric in this gown remains a prime example of the popularity of the Prussian blue dye (ferric ferrocyanide) in the eighteenth century. The portrait of Louis XV, King of France (1723-1744) (seen below), is similarly scattered with Prussian blue pigment, from the depiction of the sky to his ermine lined cape embroidered with fleurs-de-lys.

 

Portrait of Louis XV, King of France 1723-1744
France, 18th-19th century
Oil on canvas
Silverman/Rodgers Collection
KSUM 1983.4.723