Cover
Unknown Artist
17th century
Medium
Linen, cutwork
Dimensions
L. 43 x W. 43 inches 109.2 x 109.2 cm
Classification
Textiles-Laces
Culture
Italian
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Miss Mary T. Cockcroft, 1932
Accession Number
32.78.2
Art Historical Context
This exquisite 17th-century Italian linen cover, measuring a perfect square at 43 x 43 inches (109.2 x 109.2 cm), exemplifies the artistry of anonymous lace makers from Renaissance Italy's textile tradition. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, it entered the collection as a generous gift from Miss Mary T. Cockcroft in 1932. Classified among textiles-laces, this piece whispers of the era's opulent domestic and ecclesiastical life, where such covers adorned altars, tables, or beds. The medium—linen executed in cutwork (known as *punto...