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The silk brocaded taffeta fabric of this dress was designed by Anna Maria Garthwaite, who sold her design to the master weaver, "Mr. Pulley" in 1742. Only four pieces of fabric were usually woven of any one pattern; two pieces of fabric with this particular patter exist. Two other dresses with this fabric pattern are know: one, with an Irish provenance, int he National Museum of Ireland; another, with a pink background, through to have an English provenance, in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). It is quite exceptional for three fabrics of the same design to survive for over 250 years.
This dress was probably made for Christina Ten Broeck Livingston (1718-1801) of Albany and New York City, wife of Philip Livingston (1716-1778), a farmer, merchant, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, whom she married in 1740. The dress remained in the family and was remade into a day dress in about 1840 when 18th century silks were fashionable once again. It was donated by AIHA by a direct family descendant.
Anna Maria Garthwaite showed artistic
promise from a young age, although how she acquired technical design
expertise remains unknown. In Postlthwayt's Dictionary, Garthwaite
is listed as one of the three designers who "introduced the Principles
of Painting into the loom." Nearly all her design, except those of 1746
and 1750, have survived.
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Decorative Arts
Dress; Unidentified
Maker, from fabric designed by Anna Maria Garthwaite (1690-1763) and
woven by Mr. Pulley.
Fabric from London, Spitalfields, England
Brocaded silk taffeta, 1742 (remade c. 1840)
AIHA Collection: Gift of Harriet Van Rensselaer Elmendorf Gould (Mrs.
John Woodworh Gould) through Catherine Bogart Putnam Rankin (Mrs. Edward
W. Rankin)
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