Handkerchief trimmed with bobbin lace in a pattern of ferns, English, 1864

Centre of lawn, in an eight-lobed shape, surrounded with bobbin lace worked in a design of ferns, repeated in the four corners.

Purchase.

The handkerchief was made by Miss S. Sanson after the design of Lady Trevelyan.

In October of 2016 the ferns on the handkerchief were examined by an expert from the Royal Horticultural Society, who felt that ferns were all likely to be English and were depicted reasonably accurately. There was one fern which they were not able to identify with confidence from the depiction (the pair of fronds at each of the cardinal points). The others were identified as:

Hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium)
Rusty back fern (Asplenium ceterach)
Male fern (Dryopteris felix-mas)
Hard fern (Blechnum spicant)

Naturalism in design was a particular characteristic of English bobbin lace made at Honiton in Devon and the surrounding area in the 1860s. This handkerchief is typical, exhibited at the Bath and West of England's Agricultural Show show of 1864 in the category of lace 'worked either in flowers, fruit, leaves or insects, strictly designed from nature'.

Lady Paulina Trevelyan was one of the notable figures in the industry, working to improve the standard of lace design. The handkerchief was purchased by the Museum for 16 guineas (£16.80).

785-1864