Pierrot Or Amazon Jacket, Beijing Wholesale Tours Ombré Tricolor - French Revolution

Circa 1790-1795 France Pierrot or pekin jacket, wholesale from Tours shaded with fine stripes in the tricolor fashion and dating from the French Revolution period. High-waisted cut, long elbow-shaped mitten sleeves and long peplums with a ruffled peep-in-the-air detail at the back. Collar raised in the hussar style with two large panels folded down in front and crossed pinned to the chest. Fleece lining in shaded yellow striped taffeta, probably reused from a dress from the Louis XVI period. Here the feminine borrowing from the men's wardrobe is obvious and this jacket could have been that of an Amazon. In reference to the portrait of the Queen of France painted in the Amazon by Adolph Wertmuller in 1788, which influenced the fashion of the time for this type of tricolor Pierrot or Juste à la Figaro (whose skirts were longer). Some small repairs and structural weakness of the silk, however without major defects, Stable state of conservation. Dimensions: Equivalent to the size of a 14 year old girl today. Shoulders 25 cm, sleeves 55 cm, height 42 cm, chest 78 cm. References: piece exhibited and cataloged at the Château d'Ansouis in 2014 (Clothes, fashion and men's wardrobe). Provenance: Thierry Guien collection. Piece collected in Avignon in the 1980s. Extract from the 2023 catalog of Villa Roweek: Siamese, Persian, Pekin, Nankin, calico are age-old terms that evoke a distant origin, often Asian, for these initially precious fabrics. The pekin is a painted silk fabric with alternately matt and shiny stripes or of different colors and materials. Silk pekinés were “à la Sévigné” under Louis XV, then became more democratic. Samples of much more rustic Pekins, Siamese and Rounneries, from the factories of Rouen, Meslay then Marseille, were listed by Marshal Richelieu in 1736 in “fabrics and canvases from the factories of France” held by the National Library of France.