Evening Dress, 1847–48 French Light blue silk with polychrome warp-printed floral pattern; L. at center back 55 1/2 in. (141 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Gift of Mrs. Stirling S. Adams, 1978 (1978.310.1)		Madame Paul-Sigisbert Moitessier, née Marie-Clotilde-Inès de Foucauld, Seated
This ball gown is made of chiné silk, a textile in vogue during the second half of the eighteenth century and again in the mid-nineteenth century. The floral pattern, which almost appears as if it had been applied with watercolors, was achieved by printing the warp threads before they were woven, a technique appropriated from the Asian ikat tradition. Compare details of the evening dress and above portrait. Back

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