PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIR JASPER & LADY MORE, LINLEY HALL, SHROPSHIRE

A DECONSTRUCTED COURT MANTUA (FORMAL GOWN)

MID-18TH CENTURY, THE SILK PROBABLY LYON

Details

A DECONSTRUCTED COURT MANTUA (FORMAL GOWN)
MID-18TH CENTURY, THE SILK PROBABLY LYON
In white cannelé brocade woven with a gilt meander and flowers, with double sleeve ruffles, one sleeve, petticoat and three fragments, elements lacking, including one sleeve, the bodice lacking some skirt panels
The long single panel: 38 in. (97 cm.) long; width selvedge to selvedge: 19 ½ in. (49.5 cm.) wide

Provenance

Almost certainly, Anne Harley (daughter of Edward Bangham MP), wife of The Hon. Thomas Harley, (1730-1804) Lord Mayor of London, and by descent to their daughter,
Anne Harley (d. 1840), wife of George, 3rd Lord Rodney of Berrington Hall, Herefordshire,
by descent at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire until contents sold in 1901 where probably purchased by Lady Norah More (d. 1948) (née Browne – daughter of the 5th Marquess of Sligo) of Linley Hall, Shropshire and by descent at Linley hall to the present owner.

Lot Essay

This dress, was almost certainly made for Anne Harley, wife of The Hon. Thomas Harley (MP for London and then Herefordshire) and may well have been worn by her whilst her husband served as Lord Mayor of London 1767-8. The Harley family were resident at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire, which was completed to the designs of Henry Holland in 1778-81, and it is likely that the dress remained there until the estate was sold in the early twentieth-century. The dress was probably acquired at that time by Lady Norah More who was an inveterate collector, purchasing much from sales in the vicinity of her husband’s family home, Linley Hall, Shropshire. The dress, now deconstructed, which has remained in the More family collection at Linley Hall, is accompanied by a hand-written note in Lady Norah’s hand identifying it as ‘…worn by Hon: Mrs Harley…/when Lady Mayoress, 1765’.

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