Wool "Corset Bodice", First Quarter of the 19th Century

Corset Bodice, c.1800-1825, Snowshill Collection 

accessed through UK National Trust.

I have So Many Questions about this garment. It came up while I was looking for inspiration images for some early 19th century short stays, but thus far it's eluding classification.

At first glance, I took this for a set of short stays with unusually long tabs. On further reflection, I started wondering if it was in fact long stays that had (possibly through later alteration) voids instead of hip gores.  The double bust gores are a very common way of shaping long stays in the 1820s and 1830s, though I haven't seen them in the few short sets I've found. The front laces are also nigh-ubiquitous for those elusive early 19th century short stays; at the same time, I can't recall seeing a single set of longer stays from that period with front laces instead of a front busk. And then there's the fact that there are only 6 eyelets per side, allowing the garment to lace mere inches past the bust itself.

 On the whole I'm leaning towards considering this to be a set of short stays with very weird tabs and a bust treatment more typical of long stays. I'm not wholly convinced they weren't meant to be long stays which was never completed or was turned into short stays halfway through (the lack of additional eyelets is what's keeping me from speculating that they were long stays with later alterations). Or possibly this is something else entirely: an unusual, or perhaps a costume piece meant to evoke 18th century pastoralism with a fashionably raised early 19th century waistline.

I do like the contrasting color along the upper binding at the underarm: though not specified in the description, this would match the places where chamois leather is used on some 18th century stays to deal with a high-wear area.