Images(2)

Bonnet

PeriodCirca 1851 - 1853

Place MadeNew Jersey, U.S.A.

MediumSilk, buckram, wire, gauze

Dimensions10.5 × 7 × 7.5 in. (26.7 × 17.8 × 19.1 cm)

ClassificationsCostume, Women's

Credit LineGift of Penelope Hartshorne Batcheler, 1999

Object number1999.8.1

DescriptionA woman's bonnet of black and white small check silk over covered wire and stiffened gauze, lined with stiffened off-white buckrram. The silk is gathered and ruched over 15 covered wire graduated hoops. The bonnet is finished with a 2 1/2" long bavolet.
Curatorial RemarksLucy Hartshorne King's simple black and white checked silk bonnet was in keeping with general Quaker dictums regarding dress and personal adornment. Simplicity and plainness was encouraged, so as not to draw undue attention to oneself. Lucy's bonnet was constructed in a fashionable style, with the shallow brim and narrow wire hoops, and pleated silk bavolet or neck ruffle, but without the usual trimmings of flowers, ribbons, or other ornamentation. The bonnet's silhouette indicates that Lucy may have worn the bonnet for her marriage to fellow Quaker and Burlington County resident William Wilson King in 1845.NotesThis simple silk bonnet was owned and worn by Burlington County resident Lucy Hartshorne King. The daughter of John and Hannah Hartshorne, Lucy was born on May 18, 1804. She married William Wilson King (1796 - 1856) in 1845. Lucy was a lifelong Quaker, and was buried in the Friends Burying Ground in Burlington, Burlington County, New Jersey. According to the donor, the bonnet, along with a second one owned and worn by Lucy Hartshorne King, descended to Anna Hopkins Hartshorne, an orphaned niece of Lucy Hartshorne King.

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