Reserved for Elizabeth Antique Hemp Evening Dress Shirt, Rare, Hand Woven Finest Hemp, Circa 1860, Hand Made, From French Chateau, Mono M

Antique Hemp Evening Dress Shirt, Rare,  Hand Woven Finest Hemp, Circa 1860, Hand Made, From French Chateau, Mono M

This fabulous shirt is made from the finest hemp and it weighs 715 grams. The cloth used is purely organic with no chemicals or pesticides in the growing or producing process.

It was made for the head of the family of the chateau as it is made of the finest quality hand woven pure hemp. Entirely hand made and hand stitched with some wonderful details on the sleeves and shoulders, a superb piece of work. 

This is a very rare example of an evening dress shirt made from fine soft hemp. I have never seen another.

This beautiful shirt has a double cuff and the front is designed for studs not buttons.

When first made it would have been hugely expensive and was clearly a treasured item as it has been darned several times as can be seen from the photographs.

Chateau owners were able to afford to have several shirts each and to make sure that the items, once washed, were returned to the right person, they would usually have the initials of the owner embroidered in red on the tail of the shirt. In this case the initial is M as are several of the shirts in this collection.

The front has buttons and a lovely pleated design. The sleeves have buttons one button and then two button holes for cuff links.

Although this was originally made as a man's shirt they are often bought as women's dresses or nightdresses as the material is so beautiful and natural.

Measurements are as follows:

Across the chest 60 cm (120 cm around)
Collar size 42 cm
Sleeve length 54 cm 
Shoulder width 15 cm
Total length 110 cm

Provenance is everything with antiques of any kind and I am so lucky to know the full history of this fabulous pure hemp shirt.

It came from a chateau at Serignac sur Garonne where the same family have lived for a couple of centuries and over time it has became a repository of antiques from various sections of the family. As they now need a bit more room I was able to purchase a large stock of very fine linen which I will be listing over time and this beautiful shirt is part of that stock.

As with all antique linen that has been stored for some time there may be some minor storage marks that will lift out with an overnight soak and a wash in cool water.

You can see my full range of antiques from this chateau at frenchantiquecollections.com

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