Fragment with Wide Circular Pattern (1500s–1600s): Art, History and Details

Fragment with Wide Circular Pattern (1500s–1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The mezza mandolina technique produces an irregular mesh netting, as opposed to the uniform knotted netting of filet/lacis needle lace. This piece gains the overall effect of the mesh netting through the lace maker’s use of large and small circular patterns.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment with Wide Circular Pattern
• Date: 1500s–1600s
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Lace
• Technique: Bleached linen (est.): needle lace, mezza mandolina
• Dimensions: Overall: 11.4 x 17.5 cm (4 1/2 x 6 7/8 in.)
• Collection: T - Lace
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1920.1125

A detail from the museum

Mezza mandolina was frequently used for lace collars, often depicted in portraits of women from the 1500s and 1600s.

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.