Collecting Hermès scarves: "The canteen women in 1860" - 1953

"The canteen women in 1860", drawn by JB Jannot, was first published in 1953. It has never been republished since.

It was under the Second Empire that the term Cantinière was definitively adopted in place of Vivandière. Napoleon III doubled their number in 1854, and they served alongside their units in every campaign of the Second Empire, from the Crimean War to the Franco-Prussian War and even the Paris Commune.

They wore a feminine version of their regiment's uniform. Generally, it consisted of a fitted uniform jacket, striped trousers, or a knee-length skirt or even wide-legged trousers.

To design this Square, JB Jannot was most certainly inspired by a collection of coloured engravings from 1859 made by the French artist Hippolyte Lalaisse.

Image credit: 'The canteen women of the French army'. Pellerin print shop in Epinal, mid-19th century. Anonymous illustration for an engraving. Credit: IM/KHARBINE-TAPABOR Collection.