Corset and Whalebone Scrimshaw Busk
date: label: date made
content: mid-nineteenth century
label: date made
content: mid-1800s
label: fashion
content: 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: For much of the nineteenth century, ladies' fashion required very small waists. The most common way to achieve this was to wear a tight laced corset, which could be adjusted according to the specific garment it accompanied. Like this example, many of them were handmade to fit an individual, although they were also available in shops.
label: Description
content: One of the most intimate pieces of scrimshaw a whaleman could produce was a bone or baleen busk, or corset stiffener. These were carved and given to a crewman's loved one, who then inserted it into a matching sleeve on her corset as a unique memento of her beloved's feelings.
label: Description
content: One side of this whalebone busk contains three cityscapes, two of which have busy ports with lots of shipping. The other side has eight vertical pictures, topped by a full frontal portrait of a beautiful young woman. She may represent the recipient of this busk. Below her is a city scene with multiple church steeples over a flag in a precinct. A multi-colored circular geometric pattern is at the center, above a garden scene over a delicate basket of flowers. Next is a three-masted warship, and at the bottom is a large rural villa overlooking a walled garden. Can these pictures be woven into a story?
topic: label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
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content: Art
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Frederic A. Delano
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.374478
label: catalog number
content: 374478
label: accession number
content: 136263
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw whalebone busk
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: whale bone (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 13/16 in; 35.052 cm