Mrs Powell Wedding Suit 1761
Doll
1761-1800 (made)
1761-1800 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Doll, wax head and forearms with cloth torso and legs. Human hair wig, inset glass eyes, wearing a white figured silk sack with full elbow ruffles over wide panniers and petticoat trimmed with lace and ruffles in the same fabric, cap of wired and stiffened net and lace. Hand-written paper label attached to underskirts.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Title | Mrs Powell Wedding Suit 1761 (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | modelled wax, wood and cloth, glass eyes, human hair wig, figured silk, lace, wired net and cotton clothing |
| Brief description | Doll, wax and cloth, dressed in white figured silk sack and petticoat |
| Physical description | Doll, wax head and forearms with cloth torso and legs. Human hair wig, inset glass eyes, wearing a white figured silk sack with full elbow ruffles over wide panniers and petticoat trimmed with lace and ruffles in the same fabric, cap of wired and stiffened net and lace. Hand-written paper label attached to underskirts. |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | Mrs Powell Wedding Suit 1761 (Paper pinned to doll's petticoat) |
| Credit line | Gift of Mr H.J. Powell |
| Object history | Laetitia Clark (born 1741) dressed 13 dolls between 1754 and 1814 in miniature fashionable outfits of the day using fabric from her own clothes. To accessorise the dolls she also collected miniature furniture and household utensils. This doll was dressed to represent Laetitia's wedding outfit, worn in 1761 when she married David Powell, a London merchant, at St Botolph's, Bishopgate, London. The couple continued to live in that area, and one of their sons was the grandfather of the founder of the Boy Scouts, General Sir Robert Baden-Powell. Further dolls - dressed by the granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Laetita Powell - were added to the collection up to 1911. The collection both illustrates the styles of dress of the period, the fabrics available, and the types of dolls that were available. |
| Bibliographic reference | Serena Dyer, 'Fashions in Miniature: Dolls', Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century, 2021, chapter 5, 161-187. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.183:7-1919 |
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| Record created | April 30, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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