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Pair of lace cuffs
Unknown - Enlarge image
Pair of lace cuffs
- Place of origin:
Venice, Italy (made)
- Date:
1650-1700 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Needle lace worked in linen thread
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by the Trust of Mrs S.B.P. Lawrie
- Museum number:
T.6B&C-1963
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 8
Object Type
This pair of cuffs is made of a type of heavily textured needle lace, known as gros point de Venise, which was the most fashionable choice between the 1660s and the 1680s for both men and women. During this period the wearing of extravagant displays of lace was increasingly used as a mark of wealth and status. The showiest effects were achieved with lace worn at the throat and at the wrist, setting off the face and hands, but a fashionable man might even have matching lace borders trimming his boot hose.
Materials & Making
Lace for collars and cuffs could be bought either by length or by the piece made to shape, and might be brought back in either form by English travellers returning from abroad. It was then usually taken to a milliner to be made up or at a later stage to be adapted into a newly fashionable style.
Trading
In an attempt to protect the English lace industry a royal proclamation was issued in 1662 forbidding the importation or selling of foreign lace. The royal family was exempt from this prohibition, which also seems to have been widely flouted by members of the court and other fashionable people, for Venetian needle lace of this type continued to be freely sold and worn in London.
