"Lace Head" (Garniture, Cap and Lappets) (1700s): Art, History and Details

"Lace Head" (Garniture, Cap and Lappets) (1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Very few complete lace headdresses from the 1700s and 1800s (known as a ‘lace head’) survive, but three pieces formed this type of headwear. The semicircular cap with narrow edging (known as lace garniture) sat on the head and the long lappets (streamers that frame the face) could be styled in a number of ways: hanging free, pleated, or tied in a decorative knot. Among the items of women’s fashionable dress for which lace was used in the 1700s and 1800s, the ‘lace head’ was a particular focus for the display of wealth and taste. The quality of the lace, and thus its likely expense, would be immediately apparent to observers.

Object facts

• Title: "Lace Head" (Garniture, Cap and Lappets)
• Date: 1700s
• Culture: France, Sedan
• Type: Lace
• Technique: Needle lace (Point de Sedan)
• Dimensions: Overall: 74.5 x 35.7 cm (29 5/16 x 14 1/16 in.)
• Collection: T - Lace
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1936.489

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Edward S. Harkness in memory of Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness, Twentieth Anniversary Gift

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.