Dress

In the pictureThis photograph shows a mannequin wearing a red silk jacket together with a blue silk dress. The jacket on top is of red patterned silk with a large round collar covering the shoulders, and its sleeves puff out widely at the shoulder and narrow at the forearm. Gold metallic-thread fringe edges the collar, the front closure, the hem and the wrists, and the mannequin's two hands are brought together in front of the chest. The dress below is of blue patterned silk woven with flowers and leaves, spreading wide to the floor, and two bands of metallic-thread lace and small round buttons run down the center front from top to hem. Bands of red silk and metal circle the hem, and a bluish stain can be seen on the skirt at the lower left.

BackgroundThe Met has two entries that use this photograph. The dress (2009.300.607) is silk, metal and linen, with a back length of 129.5 cm, and the jacket (2009.300.608) is silk, metal and cotton, with a back length of 58.4 cm, classified separately as women's outerwear. Both are dated 1840–80, and the Brooklyn Museum bought them together in 1918 with the Frederick Loeser Fund. The dress's back length seems long for a skirt alone, so it may be a garment that continues up into a bodice under the jacket. The lace bands at the center front and the jacket's fringe are the same gold, showing that they were matched to be worn as a set, and the sleeves puffed out widely at the shoulder resemble a form fashionable in Western European women's dress of the 1830s. The collection record does not give a region.

Puzzle tipThe colors divide clearly into upper and lower, so it works well to solve it in two zones. Below, set up a vertical axis with the two metallic lace bands and the row of buttons at the center front of the dress, and join the curve with the red band at the hem. Above, the collar, bodice and sleeves are the same red, so the gold fringe is the surest boundary: run the round outline with the fringe on the collar edge, and anchor the center with the clasped hands and the wrist fringe. Fill the wide blue skirt using the silk's sheen and the stain at the lower left, and the white background last. 100 pieces works well.