Rectangular shaped whalebone, inscribed in script: "du corset les liens sont rompus/voici l'inutile baleine/ou ses charmes sont en prison/(parny)" Notes from stuart frank's visit november 4, 2009: Could be french; quote translated as: "the corset lines are broken Here is the useless whale And yet these charms are in prison." Poem is from evariste de parny, late 18th, early 19th century french poet.