Antique-Gown

Yet from the mid-sixteenth century until the early nineteenth century, the busk was a commonly known part of female dress: an independent, interchangeable part of the bodies and stays (corsets). It consisted of a long piece of a stiffened substance that was placed into a stitched channel between layers of fabric in the front of the bodies or stays and secured into place at the bottom by a small piece of ribbon called the ‘busk-point’.
The busk was often given to a women as a love token from her suitor or lover, with romantic personal messages carved upon it. This busk is ebonised, hand painted with a bee and two moths.

Length: ~ 41 cm