Fragment of a Border with Abstract Pattern (1500s): Art, History and Details

Fragment of a Border with Abstract Pattern (1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The dark yellow ground of the unbleached linen allows for the pattern, worked in bleached linen in the buratto technique, to stand out. Brown silk thread has also been incorporated, adding a shimmering effect to the contrasting colors.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of a Border with Abstract Pattern
• Date: 1500s
• Culture: Italy, Sicily, 1500s
• Type: Lace
• Technique: Unbleached and bleached linen (est.), or cotton (est.): needle lace, burato (twined ground and darned in one direction); brown silk (est.): bobbin lace edging
• Dimensions: Overall: 8 x 19.1 cm (3 1/8 x 7 1/2 in.)
• Collection: T - Lace
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1920.1123

A detail from the museum

The frayed quality of the fragment causes the buratto pattern to appear abstracted, but it was likely a flowering vine.

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.