Photo of an Unknown Lady
I have spent most of the summer away and have rather neglected the Mary Greg project. But to my credit I have always had it at the back of my mind. I found this photo on a market stall in Rozelles, Sydney Australia. It was actually taken by P.L.Reid Photographic Artist, London Portrait Gallery, St John Street, Launceston. I imagine it was posted to the lady’s relatives overseas. The reason I chose it is the chain she is wearing which has an object hanging from it..I have since found a number of similar photographs with ladies wearing chains with attachments…I am hoping they are a mini chatelaines..a little useful tool close by and ready to use. I can see some are decorative, but this one looks more solid.
I am still working on the chatelaine of useless (or nearly useless) tools.
Hazel
Hazel
Manchester Art Gallery is just about to publish online c 10,000 photographs from the Gallery of Costume photograph collection. Some photographs from the collection have already been published on flickr (http://bit.ly/93GAX8) and there are many of working women, though none, so far as I can see, appear to be wearing chatelaines. Perhaps the larger collection may reveal a few though.
The archive of images comprises over 25,000 portrait photographs dating from the 1840s onwards, although the bulk of the photographs are from the period 1860 – 1914.
There’s a fine line between the useless and the nearly useless!