MARTINIQUE - Type et Costume créoles: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A picture postcard of an unidentified woman from Martinique in the traditional Creole chemise jupe ensemble. She is featured standing facing the viewer with her head turned to the left. She is standing in front of a painted forest scene with artificial flower props on her left. She is wearing a white blouse with a foulard shawl draped over her shoulders and tucked into her madras skirt, or jupe. She wears a matching madras head scarf and a multi-layered necklace called a collier-choux. The postcard has a white frame around the edges and printed black text along the lower edge reads [Leboullanger, edit. Fort-de-France] and [MARTINIQUE - Type et Costume créoles]. The lower left corner has a black stamp in the shape of a helmet with writing inside. The back of the postcard features handwriting covering the original markings. The original card has [CARTE POSTALE] printed in black at the top with [CORRESPONDANCE] and [ADRESSE] printed below. The written note is in black ink and begins with [En te fais des compliments...].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1920
• Published by: Leboullanger, French
• Printed by: Louis Bauer, French
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Type: postcards
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 5 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (14 × 8.9 cm)
• Place captured: Fort-de-France, Martinique, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
• Cultural Place: France, Europe
• Cultural Place: Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia
• Topic: African American
• Topic: African diaspora
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Colonialism
• Topic: Correspondence
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Freedom
• Topic: French colonialism
• Object number: 2016.151.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.