Robe à la Française - Gown and Petticoat

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Description:

Pink and cream silk floral robe à la française, including overgown and petticoat. The damask-like silk is created by supplementary wefts to cause a "bricked" effect. A serpentine ruffled trim runs down the front of the gown, and each elbow-length sleeve ends in flounces. The sack back is designed with a short length of trim that holds down the pleats at the back shoulders, possibly a later alteration. A muslin lining extends into the sleeves and down to the waist, with cotton ties located at the interior back and side seams. Lifting the ruffled panels on the front of the petticoat reveals the original colors of the gown, closer to a vivid hot pink and white.

Family history notes that this gown was made for and worn by Eliza Lucas Pinckney for her presentation at the English court to the Dowager Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, mother of the future King George III. It was part of Pinckney's wardrobe when the family moved from South Carolina to England in 1753 in order to enroll her two sons in an elite school. Though there was speculation this dress was made of silk cultivated by Pinckney on her plantations, the timeline of the visit and primary sources regarding her sericulture efforts do not support that claim. The gown underwent extensive conservation in 2016 thanks to fundraising by the Eliza Lucas Pinckney Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.