INFANT STAYS FROM THE WARD FAMILY, CA. 1750.

A rare pair of infant or baby stays from the General Artemas Ward Family, probably mid-18th century, with a medium-weight, yellow ochre or mustard-colored linen, lined inside with a finer weight on white linen, now cream-colored. The outside is finished as a series of vertical panels, done by topstitching, said channels or casings filled with flat pieces of baleen or some other stiffer, and the seams are covered by a decorative white tape of 3/16 in. width. There are five, hand-worked grommet holes on each end or side for lacing. It is accompanied by a label inscribed "A Baby's "Stays" at least one hundred and fifty years old probably two hundred or more, at this writing. 1905." CONDITION: The ends with the grommet holes, especially the left proper, showing edge wear and fraying. JLK Provenance: by descent in the General Artemas Ward Family until 2012; private collection to present.