Brussels lace lappet

Status

Not on view

Label Text

Lace, the product of intense, time-consuming hand work, signaled prestige, power, and wealth, and consequently acted as an important finishing touch on elite dress. Martha Washington owned several sets of lace that she used to adorn her gowns, caps, and other accessories. Likely used as trimming or robing along the front edges of a gown, this piece of Brussels lace may have been part of one of the “suits” or sets of Brussels lace that she purchased from London in the 1760s or 1770s. It exemplifies the contemporary taste in lace for large open areas of mesh and motifs of scrolling leaves, flowers, and fancy fillings concentrated on the lace’s lower edge.

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Date1765-1775

Geography Made - Belgium

Medium/TechniqueLinen, bobbin lace

DimensionsOverall: 4 7/8 in. × 42 1/4 in. (12.38 cm × 107.32 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph G. Newman, 1984

Object numberW-2991/I

DescriptionBrussels white linen bobbin lace with a wide, rounded end featuring scrolls of leaves and flowers, arches of floral sprigs, floral sprays, and various kinds of mesh and fancy fillings. A continuous section of flowers and leaves linked by areas of large net scrolls down the piece, moving from the center to the outer edge and back again. The middle ground features single floral sprays, and the outer edge of the lace is defined by scrolls of leaves and flowers with areas of fancy fillings. Several key features of Brussels bobbin lace are identifiable in this piece: the six-sided droschel style mesh ground; the ridged outlines on certain motifs formed by the “eightstick” or “tenstick” technique (the weaving together of eight or ten threads); and the design of multiple organic motifs within large spaces of mesh.
Published ReferencesElizabeth M. Kurella, A Guide to Lace and Linens (Norfolk, Virginia: Antique Trader Books, 1998). (general reference)

A Smolar-Meynart et al., Lace in Aristocratic and Royal Attire (Brussels: Lace and Costume Museum, 1991), i. (general reference)

Anne Kraatz, Lace: History and Fashion (New York: Rizzoli, 1989), 90. (general reference)

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