Court mantua

Wide skirted dresses like this, called mantuas, were worn to royal courts across Europe in the 18th century.

This dress was worn by Mary Watson-Wentworth (1735-1804), 2nd Marchioness of Rockingham. She is thought to have worn this mantua to accompany her husband, Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730-1782) the 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, to a ceremony of the Order of the Garter in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on 6 May 1760. The Order of the Garter is the highest order of chivalry in England. The ceremony was a prestigious occasion warranting a dress of this importance and type.

Lady Mary Rockingham was an important political figure in her own right. She helped to organise a faction headed by her husband that was set up specifically to oppose Lord Bute (John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute 1773-1792) known as the Rockingham Whigs. She was a power broker in many political deals and her husband called her 'my Minerva [Goddess of wisdom] at my elbow'.

The fabric is made from silk woven by hand using real silver thread. Weaving a fabric this complex took a long time, perhaps only an inch in a single day. Large amounts of this expensive fabric were needed to create the mantua and the style was designed to show the wearer's ability to afford such expensive materials.