French Dress In Taffeta And Indian Fabric – Provence Circa 1785

Circa 1785 Provence This French-style dress, a matching coat and skirt, is astonishingly simple. The double rows of box pleats in the back, known as Watteau pleats, are flattened and sewn to the bodice, as if to promote ease by approaching the fitted waists of English-style dresses. It is made of two almost identical striped and shaded check taffetas from a factory in the south of France (Nîmes or Avignon). The coat has buttoned compères, straight three-quarter sleeves and double rows of pleated, notched and perforated frills. The inner lining of the bodice, in older reused fabrics, is made of Siamese Rouennerie and Indian fabrics from the Levant or Marseille. With its very modern and Anglicist structure, its compères and its Madras-style taffeta, it evokes the representations of French port costumes taken from the work of the famous painter Joseph Vernet in the 18th century. Good condition apart from a very slight uniform depigmentation of the colors. Dimensions: Equivalent to size 36 France.