Cloth with Floral and Vegetal Patterns (1560–1600): Art, History and Details

Cloth with Floral and Vegetal Patterns (1560–1600) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Textiles often incorporate multiple needlework techniques within a single piece. One of the main techniques in this example of lace is called cutwork. In cutwork, portions of the textile ground, such as a linen or cotton cloth, are cut away and threads are removed to create holes. The edges of the hole are then reinforced with embroidery and a pattern of needle lace can be created within the perimeter. Rather than adding to the cloth to create a design, the craftsperson removes threads to fabricate a pattern.

Object facts

• Title: Cloth with Floral and Vegetal Patterns
• Date: 1560–1600
• Culture: Italy, late 1500s
• Type: Lace
• Technique: Bleached linen (est.): needle lace, filet/lacis (knotted ground and darned in two directions), alternating reticella squares (open cutwork), and bobbin lace edging
• Dimensions: Mounted: 148 x 151.1 cm (58 1/4 x 59 1/2 in.); Overall: 145.1 x 144.2 cm (57 1/8 x 56 3/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Lace
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1923.995

A detail from the museum

The large size and square shape suggest that this textile would likely have been used as a table cloth.

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Edward B. Greene, G. G. Wade and J. H. Wade Jr. for the Ellen Garretson Wade Memorial Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William Mathewson. “Lace and Its Development: I. The Beginnings.” Antiques 1 (May 1922): 211-216.
• Browne, Clare Woodthorpe, and Christine Smith. Lace from the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V & A Publications, 2004.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.