Dress, shawl, and parlor chair (detail)

Dress with evening bodice, c. 1850. American. Silk.

Chantilly lace shawl, c. 1850–75. French. Silk.

Parlor chair, c. 1863. American, probably Boston. Rosewood and silk damask. The brocade-woven design of curled leaf motifs and rose-like flowers is distinctly eighteenth-century in flavor, though the deep black and blue color combination is very Victorian. The black Chantilly lace shawl was hugely fashionable in the 1850s and 1860s. Chantilly had been the favorite lace of Queen Marie Antoinette. The parlor chair's upholstery, which is original, imitates the woven design of an early eighteenth-century silk, as can be seen in the dress.