Martha Washington's dress
date: label: Date made
content: Late 18th Century
name: label: user
content: Washington, Martha
notes: label: Description
content: Dress worn by Martha Washington. The gown's basic style is typical of the early 1780s. The painted pattern on the silk taffeta is a repeat of four floral bouquets and 58 creatures (butterflies, ants, beetles, snails, bees, grasshoppers, wasps, ladybugs, spiders, and grubs) places within the spaces between the ribbon-trellis pattern. Each crossover is accented with a painted green "jewel."
label: Description
content: The fabric displays characteristics common to 18th- century hand-painted Chinese textiles: fluid brush strokes, white lead base coat of paint, green malachite pigment for the "jewels," and a 30-inch selvage-to-selvage width.
label: Description
content: The collar and cuffs are reproductions
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: used
content: First Ladies
label: Subject
content: First Ladies
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, First Ladies Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. John McFarland Bergland and Mrs. Asher Abbott White
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0080.01
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0080.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0080
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Dress
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: silk (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: salmon pink; green (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 55 in x 33 in x 48 in; 139.7 cm x 83.82 cm x 121.92 cm