Stays
Date1754-1764
MediumLinen, Cotton, Baleen, Wood, Silk
DimensionsOverall Chest: 13 in.; Overall Waist: 12 1/2 in.; Center, front: 4 1/2 in.; Center Back: 5 1/2 in.
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2020-35
DescriptionVery small pair of infant or child’s stays made of yellow brown linen on the exterior, with inner lining of blue striped linen, lined in fine white linen on the interior. Stays are fully boned in baleen with a small piece of rib boning going horizontally that appears to be wood. They stays lack tabs around the waist except for two small ones at the center back. Very narrow silk tapes cover the seams on the exterior. Five eyelets are worked at the center back. The top red center back appears to have been mended during the 18th century.Label TextOn July 31, 1750, Artemas Ward married Sarah Trowbridge. During the course of the next fifteen years they would have eight children: Ithamar in (1752), Nahum (1754), Sara (1756), Thomas (1758), Artemas Jr. (1762), Henry Dana (1768), Martha (1760), and Maria (1764). Anyone of these children, both boys and girls, could have worn this pair of stays. The stays show heavy wear on the lacing edges and mending, which could suggest that they saw multiple usage by multiple members of the Ward's children.
InscribedHand written note included with stays states:
A Baby's "Stays" at least one hundred and fifty years old probably two hundred or more, at this writing. 1905
ProvenanceThe infant stays descended through the General Artemas Ward's family until 2012, then from a private collection from 2012 to present when sold at auction.
