cabinet photograph

Summary

3/4 length portrait of 2 women beside a large window. The older woman is seated on the window sill and the other woman is peering through it from the other side. The seated woman has wavy hair worn up with a large brimless hat made up of gathered silk and fine black feathers. She is wearing a dark silk dress with a satin band around the waist, full length narrow sleeves with white silk cuffs and a deep frill collar extending over her shoulders. Her skirt is trimmed with 2 rows of satin ribbon and a deep frill above the hem. She wears a pleated neck scarf with long velvet tassles. The woman beside her has wavy hair worn in a chignon with very full sides and she is wearing a spotted silk fitted blouse with full length fitted sleeves, a high standing collar and a ruffle front with a flower. She wears a dark wool skirt with a silk belt with a decorative silver buckle.

Display Label

The Cunnington Collection These photographs are from the extensive archive of Drs C Willet and Phillis Cunnington, whose costume collection and library were acquired by Manchester Corporation in 1947. This purchase led to the formation of the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall. The Cunningtons owned thousands of cartes-de-visite (small photographs, the size of a namecard you might present when visiting) and cabinet photographs (a good size to prop up for display on a cabinet) as well as later photographic prints, which he collected to show clothes worn by real people. Unfortunately the identity of the people in the photographs has often not been recorded. [Dr C W Cunnington dated many of the photographs on the reverse in his distinctive pencil/ink scrawl. While he was an early costume expert, some of his more specific dates seem suspiciously arbitrary. We have followed them here with the addition of ‘about’ to indicate that the date may be inexact.]