Album of designs for embroidery: bodices, gauntlets, caps, bags, page 17 (recto)

Art Historical Context

Step into the opulent world of 17-century Dutch fashion with this exquisite page from an anonymous artist's *Album of Designs for Embroidery*. Created between 1615 and 1635 during the Dutch Golden Age, this sheet (page 17 recto) intricate patterns for bodices, gaunt, caps, and bags adorned with lively motifs of birds and flowers. Such albums served as practical pattern books for embroiderers and textile artisans, ensuring consistent, elegant designs across garments and accessories that reflected the era's prosperity and love for ornamentation. Rendered in pen and ink with subtle wash for depth and shading, the drawings showcase the precision of Dutch ornamental draftsmanship. The fine lines capture the fluidity of feathers and petals, ideal for translation into silk threads or lace. Measuring 18⅞ × 11⅜ inches, this album page highlights how decorative arts intertwined with architecture and fashion, influencing everything from elite wardrobes to household linens. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, thanks to The Elisha Whittelsey Collection (1955), it offers a window into the cultural vibrancy of the time—where embroidery was both a woman's craft and a status symbol, blending artistry with everyday elegance.