Woman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of Fishes

Woman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of Fishes

Anonymous, British, 19th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drawing of woman wearing a costume with fish motifs, possibly an advertisement for a costume house. She stands on right profile, holding her right arm bent on a right angle in front of her. The bodice of the dress, likely corseted, is of light blue color, and the short sleeves are made up of orange fish scales. The skirt is made up of a white, thin fabric, above which is a bustle with train, with the shape of a large fish colored with shades of brown and orange. Two thin veils hang from the back of the bodice, one of which the woman holds with her right hand, extended to her side. The hair is long, loose, and partially covered by a headdress, also with the shape of a fish, executed with shades of brown.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Woman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of FishesWoman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of FishesWoman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of FishesWoman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of FishesWoman Wearing a Costume Whose Bustle and Headdress are the Shape of Fishes

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.