Fragment of a Border with Standing and Seated Birds Amidst Vegetation (1500s): Art, History and Details

Fragment of a Border with Standing and Seated Birds Amidst Vegetation (1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Three distinct bird species appear in this fragment distinguished through their body, neck, and feather shapes. In the period this lace was created, there was growing interest in the scientific study of birds, called ornithology. Ornithological books and prints depicted accurate records of birds, which deviated from previous fanciful portrayals.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of a Border with Standing and Seated Birds Amidst Vegetation
• Date: 1500s
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Lace
• Technique: Bleached linen (est.): needle lace, burato (twined ground and darned in one direction)
• Dimensions: Overall: 40.1 x 46.4 cm (15 13/16 x 18 1/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Lace
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1920.1141

A detail from the museum

The word lace derives from the Latin laqueus, meaning noose.

Collection credit

Gift of J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Ricci, Elisa. Old Italian Lace. 1913.

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.