Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Mantua \Man"tu*a\, n.
   1. A superior kind of rich silk formerly exported from Mantua
      in Italy. [Obs.] --Beck (Draper's Dict.).

   2. A woman's cloak or mantle; also, a woman's gown. [Obs.]

Source : WordNet®

mantua
     n : loose gown of the 17th and 18th centuries