Early 18th century mantuas

The c.1700 mantua

The 1708 manuta

The Metropolian Museum in New York has two early mantuas, one from around 1700, and the other about 1708. As well as having photographs of these mantuas online they have also been creating pdfs of articles about  the mantuas.

So the 1700 example now gives access to the article by Adolph S Cavallo,. "The Kimberley Gown." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 3 (1970) at http://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/journals/1/pdf/1512604.pdf.bannered.pdf

And for 1708 mantua there is a short piece from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin at the time of its acquisition at http://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3258936.pdf.bannered.pdf

For more general information go to the Museums main site at http://www.metmuseum.org/ and search for mantua.