Cecile Burr (ca. 1884-1964), whose name in her native Poland was Cécile de Wasilowska wore this green silk and sequined dress while in Paris. The widow of a Polish aristocrat, she immigrated to the United States in 1920, and married George Howard Burr, New York-based banker and financier, in 1925. Her grandchild, Cecile (Parker) Carver of Scarborough preserved the dress.

With its pale green color—the recently introduced Nile green, so named after the River Nile--and sequined tabs in palmette or lotus leaf patterns, the dress is an example of the Egyptian influence that swept the fashion world after Howard Carter’s opening of King Tutenkamun’s tomb in 1922.