Gown Skirt Panel, Silk Damask

Date1734-1740

Attributed to Anna Maria Garthwaite

Worn by Martha Custis Dandridge Washington (1731 - 1802)

OriginEngland, London, Spitalfields; worn in America, Virginia

MediumSilk damask with silk hem tape

DimensionsOW 16" wide x OL: 32 7/8"

Credit LineGift of Mrs. R. Keith Kane & daughters: Mrs. James H. Scott, Jr., Mrs. Timothy Childs, Mrs. N., Beverly Tucker, Jr., and Mrs. Lockhart B. McGuire.

Object number1975-342,3

DescriptionThis is one of four panels of beige silk damask in a large-scale pattern of asymmetrical scrolling leaves and flowers, once part of a woman's disassembled gown skirt, or petticoat. This panel is rectangular, with a green-striped selvage along the left side with remnants of original stitching, and cut raw edges at the top and right side. Faint pleat marks are visible at the top. The hem is finished with narrow silk plain-woven facing.
Label TextWoven at Spitalfields, the silk-weaving district near London, this textile has a characteristically bold pattern over the full width of the 20 1/4-inch-wide fabric. According to family tradition, this is one of several surviving panels that came from a gown worn by Martha Washington (1731-1802). Because the textile dates to Martha Washington's childhood, the gown must have been passed down from a family member.

The silk's design is attributed to the London silk textile designer Anna Maria Garthwaite by comparison with her watercolor designs held at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
ProvenanceFamily tradition in the Dandridge/Henley/Kane family states that material came from gown owned by Martha Washington (Dandridge/Custis) Fragments of same material with Washington histories are in collections at Tudor Place, Washington, D. C. and Mount Vernon, confirming family tradition, although Martha's birth date of 1732 suggests that her gown was remade from an earlier one.