Fragment of a Band with Vines Surrounding a Monkey, Lion, and an Unidentified Four-Legged Animal (1500s): Art, History and Details

Fragment of a Band with Vines Surrounding a Monkey, Lion, and an Unidentified Four-Legged Animal (1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Most surviving pieces of figural lace are horizontal, making the vertical orientation of this band unique. The monkey, lion, and perhaps lioness or other feline are not native to Italy and represent exoticism and the notion of increasing international exchange at the time.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of a Band with Vines Surrounding a Monkey, Lion, and an Unidentified Four-Legged Animal
• Date: 1500s
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Lace
• Technique: Bleached linen (est.): needle lace, filet/lacis (knotted ground and darned in two directions)
• Dimensions: Overall: 20.1 x 80.5 cm (7 15/16 x 31 11/16 in.)
• Collection: T - Lace
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1920.1159

A detail from the museum

Monkeys were captured from Africa, Brazil, and India between the 15th and 17th centuries at the height of overseas exploration and sold as expensive, exotic pets to affluent European customers.

Collection credit

Gift of J. H. Wade

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.