Hello ladies of fashion, Can someone perhaps help describe to me what the Comtesse de Provence is wearing in this portrait? I'm particularly interested to know about the bonnet lace she is wearing- what it is called? Is this was something worn by all woman at the time or just married woman? Thanks!
updated by @marie-josephine-de-fiennes: 06 Oct 2016 06:06:00AM

I'm just taking a wild guess on this one so please excuse me. But from the painting it looks very casual when compared to other late-18th century portraits commissioned by royalty and the nobility. Casual in the aristocratic sense, of course. The bonnet is very interesting. It does look like it has been pinned up in the back. If its suppose to be a veil I believe it could be associated with matrimony as veils have been for centuries, if not thousands, of years. Or motherhood...?

Well from the hair, the fichu, and general arrangement of the gown, I'll say it's 1780's, probably early 1780's, but other than saying that's an "open robe", I'm afraid I'm little more help. Really pretty though, and he certainly makes Madame look ... lovely!

Her history is very interesting. She was a cousin of the ill-fated Marie Louis Savoy princesse de Lamballe. Of course as with most movies her role in Marie Antoinette is completely false. I believe in the movie she actually had a baby? Unfortunately she never had children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Jos%C3%A9phine_of_Savoy

Ok so it is a Fichu thanks! Yes the gown is lovely. I really really like it ;D

Yes the shawl around her decolletage is a fichu, however I don't think the lace cap she is wearing serves any real purpose. It's a variant of the fashionable mob cap or turban, popularized in the 1780's and worn in many portraits of Marie Antoinette. I wouldn't say it was a veil, it's more of an extension of the lace cap which was common

Mob Cap that is the term I was looking for. Thank you!

I found this source which I think you will all enjoy. ;D

http://marie-antoinettequeenoffrance.blogspot.com/2010/01/fashion-du-jour-mob-cap.html

One of my favorite portraits of moi, :D hee hee

:P

(giggles)