Please date these shawls

[Deb D]

Ooooh, Mary!

What a great photo/ambrotype!  Have you posted it on the Photo Restoration board for a clean-up?  I reckon it'd be gorgeous!

[Mimble]

Well, I think I may be a bit nearer. Found this picture, http://www.vintagetextile.com/new_page_100.htm  and I think the shawls (or at least the fringed one) are ivory Chinese hand-embroidered silk, dated about 1890- 1900. this means they were probably my great-grandmother's wedding shawls, ie. those of Annie Louisa Jones of Aldon Farm, Stokesay in Shropshire. Her parents and grandparents were wealthy farmers for generations in the area. She was married in 1890 in Clun, so the shawls would have been very fashionable at the time. (I use Annie Louisa's picture as my icon).
Mary

[Viktoria]

In the photograph you  first posted the square shawl did not look anywhere near as big as the latest photo of one on a mannequin. What size is the square one ?it only looked of a size to just sit around the neck. Whatever they are -and I`d be inclined to the earlier date for the long one- they are lovely and I can tell you enjoy having them, thanks for sharing this. Viktoria.

[Mimble]

Yes the square shawl isn't as big as the one in the website, but the embroidery and the fringing have similar patterns, so I think it is Chinese. Possibly earlier, perhaps bought for an earlier wedding and reused for Annie Louisa's? I think they are not those worn by her mother Charlotte in the ambrotype - difficult to see but I think her shawl is darker. I don't have a picture of Annie at her wedding unfortunately.
Mary

[mhomac]

Hi, I've just found this topic.

I have a shawl very similar to the large square one with long fringes in your picture.
 I was told that it was a christening shawl. It belonged to my mother and used for her christening in 1912 and then used for both my brother and I many years later. I now have it and use it occasionally. Its too beautiful to keep in a box and it's always admired when I wear it.
Hope this is of interest to you.

Mhomac