Mistress of the Whip
Maker: Unknown persons of the Red X.
German music box, c.1850
Wooden, ceramic and fabric,17cm x 13cm x 10cm
Museum no: W.031
‘A lesson learned, by ye ladies fair, teach naughty lords to bear their rear, as little lieutenants to salute the air’.
– 18th-century ditty, Unknown
During the 18th and 19th Centuries, the Mistresses of the Whip were the influencers of the time. These infamous dominatrixes would be thronged by fawning devotees as they promenaded London’s Pleasure Gardens.
The most celebrated was Madame Hautville, known mysteriously as the Woman in White. She appears in the scandalous book The Merry Order of St Bridget: Personal Recollections of the Use of the Rod (1857). The book describes her as a ‘lovely little angel’ dressed head to toe in white with a charming modesty veil.
Records suggest that this dainty music box was dedicated to her Madame Hautville by one of her endless admirers.
Film by Claire Lawrie
