Ambrotype: "Motherhood in the Crinoline Period" 1860s
Subject
Photograph
Title
Ambrotype: "Motherhood in the Crinoline Period" 1860s
Date
early 1860s
Description
"This photograph is of Eleanor Dearborn's grandmother and mother as a child."
The child's dress and part of the mother's dress that can be seen help to date this ambrotype to the 1860s. In the photo, the girl sits on her mother's lap wearing stockings, boots, and a light colored dress decorated with soutache braid on the front and around the skirt. The waistline of the dress is slightly higher than natural, reflective of adult women's wear during the decade, as corsets and bodices shortened around 1860 to allow for the full skirts.
Although much of the mother's dress remains hidden, it is clear that the sleeves are set low on the arm, a style popular in the 1850s and early 1860s. Though it is difficult to tell the fabric from the photograph, black alpaca dresses were commonly found in women's closets; even Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, was known to wear a plain black dress at home.
Both the mother's and daughter's hair styles are consistent with the early 1860s. Women wore their hair parted in the middle and tucked behind their ears. Young girls wore tight curls, sometimes around the face or, as with this young lady, at the top of the head.
The case is of embossed paper on wood, embossed velvet pad and embossed copper matte.
The child's dress and part of the mother's dress that can be seen help to date this ambrotype to the 1860s. In the photo, the girl sits on her mother's lap wearing stockings, boots, and a light colored dress decorated with soutache braid on the front and around the skirt. The waistline of the dress is slightly higher than natural, reflective of adult women's wear during the decade, as corsets and bodices shortened around 1860 to allow for the full skirts.
Although much of the mother's dress remains hidden, it is clear that the sleeves are set low on the arm, a style popular in the 1850s and early 1860s. Though it is difficult to tell the fabric from the photograph, black alpaca dresses were commonly found in women's closets; even Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, was known to wear a plain black dress at home.
Both the mother's and daughter's hair styles are consistent with the early 1860s. Women wore their hair parted in the middle and tucked behind their ears. Young girls wore tight curls, sometimes around the face or, as with this young lady, at the top of the head.
The case is of embossed paper on wood, embossed velvet pad and embossed copper matte.
References
Joan Severa, Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1995.
Source
Whitlock Collection
Donor: Mary C. Whitlock
Donor: Mary C. Whitlock
Identifier
URI 1961.01.14
Contributor
Samantha Myette
Medium
Case of embossed paper on wood, embossed velvet pad and embossed copper matte.
Collection
Citation
“Ambrotype: "Motherhood in the Crinoline Period" 1860s,” Historic Textile and Costume Collection, accessed April 27, 2024, https://uritextilecollection.omeka.net/items/show/230.