Figure 1.--This unidentified boy looks to be about 4-5 years old. He wears a dressy juvenile suit with a lace collar, white stockings, and strap shoes. We are not sure about the natiionality, but it could be Czech. We are guessing that this could be a suit mother sewed at home.

This unidentified boy looks to be about 4-5 years old. He wears a dressy juvenile suit with a lace collar, white stockings, and strap shoes. We are not sure about the natiionality, but it could be Czech. We are guessing that this could be a suit mother sewed at home. These three boys must be brothers as they are wearing matching outfirs. The two oldest boys wear black suits with ornamental pearl buttons on their knee pants and on their waist-length, high-collar jackets. Notice that the elaborate wide lace collars seem not to be a part of the suits and are added to the outfits after they are already buttoned up. In other words, the lace collars are separate pin-on garments. Notice the lace ruffled collar (almost Elizabethan in style on the younger boy, who is wearing a tunic or dress, apparently without short trousers underneath. All three of the boy wear white long stockings, but the youngest boys' stockings are much shorter than those of his brothers and you can see where the hose supporters are attached in the case of the boy with the belted tunic. Notice also the matching lace cuffs on the tunic. All three boys wear the same style of strap shoes. They seem to come from an affluent family, but the clothes to us look like a middle-class mother's efforts to emulate fashions worn by wealthy children. They are obviously dressed quite formally for their formal studio photograph. The portrait is undated. We would tend to date it some time in the early 20th century before World War I. We don't know the name of the family or the country, but I believe these boys are European. There is some possibility that they are Czech because of the context in which the images were found. Perhaps our HBC readers will help us pin down the country of origin. Both the older boys, who seem to be about 8 and 7 years old, wear their hair in short bangs. The youngest child, who is only about 2 years old, has very sparse hair.

Created: 6:09 PM 1/23/2007
Last updated: 6:09 PM 1/23/2007