Monday, October 3, 2011

Tippet, Tippet, Who's Got the Tippet?


Dear Mrs. Peabody,

How do you know that the items you cite were called tippets and not something else? We know that tippets could be fur (although were not always fur) and that they went around the neck, but for all we know, there could have been several sorts of fur things that went around the neck. As for furs for the neck, we also have Two ladies, one holding a fan and the other a rose, at the Bowes Museum:
(is that a fur tippet and a lace tippet? a fur tippet and a lace something else? two things neither of which are tippets?) and Antoine Coypel's Marquise de Lamure, née Charlotte-Philippine de Chastres de Cange, at the Worcester Art Museum:
(This image from Grand Ladies as the image is not on line at the Worcester Art Museum website.)

Going beyond the neckwear, I also admire the equipages, hair ornaments, and sleeve ruffles with a simple lace edging in Two Ladies...and the Marquise de Lamure's gloves, her earrings, and most especially her awesome muffatees.

Your affectionate servant,
Miss Boylston

3 comments:

  1. My Dear Miss Boylston, Have you come across other references to fur items as neckwear? Using primary sources such as advertisements for the products, and images such as the portraits is probably the best we can do. The number of items that are designated as neckwear in the 18th century is not a vast one, and once in while one must take a leap of logic based on those primary sources. I am pretty confident those are tippets.

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  2. Could this be an example of a lace tippet?

    http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/collections-access/collection-object/capobject?gusn=GUSN-4659&searchterm=None

    what do you think?

    YH&OS,
    Mrs S.

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  3. Here's another one for you:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Marc_Nattier_-_Comtesse_Tessin_-_WGA16463.jpg

    (drool, drool!)

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