The peinetón is a large, decorative comb that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and became very fashionable among its female inhabitants as well as those of Montevideo, Uruguay between the late 1820s and the mid to late 1830s. Although its origin can be traced back to the traditional Spanish peineta, the peinetón derived into a different headpiece altogether, both for its physical characteristics as well as for the symbolic meanings around its use. The peineta was introduced to Buenos Aires around 1815 and, as early as 1824, interest began to grow in larger and more elaborate models, eventually giving rise to the peinetón that had its heyday between 1830 and 1837. The accessory emerged during the Romantic era of Western fashion, and was worn alongside dresses with small waists and large, voluminous sleeves.
Charles Pellegrini. Mr. Manuel Mateo Masculino López, c. 1834. Masculino was the most prominent and influential peinetón manufacturer. This portrait is a sign of his resulting economic prosperity, and depicts him next to an unfolded plan of one of his creations.
View of the Plaza de la Victoria—today the Plaza de Mayo—as depicted by Charles Pellegrini in 1831. The peinetón business was concentrated in the commercial area surrounding the square, which was the central axis of the city.
Charles Pellegrini. Mrs. Lucía Carranza de Rodríguez Orey, 1831.
Jacobo Fiorini. Mrs. Candelaria Somellera de Espinoza, c. 1830–1834.
María de la Encarnación Ezcurra was an Argentine political activist, wife of Juan Manuel de Rosas.
Encarnación Ezcurra portrayed by García del Molino and Morel c. 1835. She wears a red ribbon on her hair, a symbol of the Federalist Party, as well as the fashionable peinetón.
