Photo of the Day

Getting locked in a floral theme I guess...

Update!

This bit of colorful floral embroidery comes from a circa 1745 court dress in the earlier mantua style. Feast your eyes on these door blocking proportions.

Botanically correct embroideries and similarly printed floral textiles were all the rage in Rococo England thus the width of this dress maximizes the opulent display of the owner's wealth and status.

Detail of back via collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78803/mantua

It amazes me that pieces like this survive, again we must thank the country house tradition where this was likely pased down and stowed in an attic. The Victoria and Albert Museum acquired it from a Christie's textiles sale in 1969 with no provenance, but photographs later surfaced showing the piece in the late 19th/early 20th century and associating it with the wedding of an Isabella Courtenay on May 14, 1744. Read the rest of the details here.