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Wedding dress
Woman's dress
Wedding dress
Worn by: Mehetable Stoddard Sumner (Welles) (American, 1784–1826)
possibly French, worn in America
1815–20
Place of Use: Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Place of Manufacture: possibly France
Medium/Technique
Silk net (tulle), silk satin trim, silk cord, wool embroidery
Dimensions
Center Front: 121.9 cm (48 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Emily Welles Robbins (Mrs. Harry Pelham Robbins) and the Hon. Sumner Welles, in memory of Georgiana Welles Sargent
Accession Number49.880
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsFashion and Textiles
ClassificationsCostumes
DescriptionWhite, high waisted tulle dress with short, puffed sleeves, low, square neckline, and drawstring closure which ties at back; trimmed with four bands of blue-white satin, tulle, and cream silk cord (single band of same trim at neckline and cuffs). Wide decorative border at hem; two rows of satin loops formed into crescent shapes with silk cording, tulle rosettes, and cream silk embroidered with three-lobed leaves; single continuous band of rouched ribbon between two rows of cording; scalloped net at hemline embroidered with three-lobed leaves,
(white satin slip not original, see inscription)
(white satin slip not original, see inscription)
InscriptionsWritten in ink of fabric label (now in folder): "Ball or posibly wedding gown, 1815-1820/ worn by Mrs. B Welles of Boson./ Lined with tulle 1898 by her granddaughter/ Georgiana Wells Sarent. Markd 1906."
ProvenanceBall or possibly wedding gown of Mehetable Stoddard Sumner (Mrs. Benjamin Welles) (1784-1826) of Boston; Inherited by her granddaughter Miss Georgiana Welles Sargent (born 1858) of New York City; Gift of Emily Welles Robbins (Mrs. Harry Pelham Robbins) and the Hon. Sumner Welles, in memory of Georgiana Welles Sargent, to MFA 1949