Collar
Unknown Artist
early 18th century
Medium
Bobbin lace
Dimensions
L. 16 1/2 x W. 5 inches 41.9 x 12.7 cm
Classification
Textiles-Laces
Culture
Flemish, Mechlin
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Winthrop Gray, 1919
Accession Number
19.146
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite bobbin lace collar, crafted by an unknown Flemish artist in the early th century, hails from Mechlin (Mechelen), a renowned center of lace production in Flanders. Measuring 16½ by 5 inches, it exemplifies the delicate artistry of Mechlin lace, prized across Europe for its lightweight, transparent quality and fine hexagonal mesh ground. Worn as a fashionable neck accessory by the elite, such collars symbolized wealth and refinement during the Baroque-to-Rococo transition, when lace became a staple of aristocratic attire. The medium of bobbin lace—created by twisting and intertwi...