Train for courtly gown

Italian manufacture
Date
1880-90
Location
Storage
Technique
Velvet and guipure lace
Inventory
Ancient Textiles Inventory 6319

This luxurious train would have been attached to the waist. The exquisite appliqué decorations of guipure, an ancient lace, in silver thread and the imprinted silver tubing stand out against the purple velvet. The trim and the elaborate decorative elements such as the spirals and volutes, as well as the decorative techniques used, demonstrate an understanding of embellishments originating from different cultures such as the Baltic and the Arab countries along the coast of the Mediterranean.

Donated by the Corsini family

Bibliography

R. Landini, L’abito come ornamento e l’ornamento dell’abito, in Abiti in festa. L’ornamento e la sartoria italiana, a cura di R. Orsi Landini, Livorno 1996, pp. 24-28, n.24.

Credits
Caterina Chiarelli