#2690  Lace Embroidered Handkerchief    

1780-1820   

Materials: Fine white mull, white cotton embroidery floss.

Provenance: New England museum de-accession.

Condition: Excellent, near perfect. One tiny pin hole, no stains.

Measurements: 24" x 24".

Comments: The very fine cloth used in this lace hankie has a wiry yet soft hand. Either linen or Pilipino pina cloth, woven from the fibers of the pineapple plant. The hankie has an elaborate drawn-work 2" border edged with heavily embroidered van-dyke points. Corner medallions with meandering vines, leaves and stylized flower-heads are expertly embroidered around the hankies interior perimeter. These embroidered motifs have drawn-work centers with various needle lace fillings. This hankie is unusually large, perhaps a wedding hankie? Both the lacy white work embroidery and over-size hankie shape were in vogue during the late 18th C. I have never seen a comparable hankie from this period - its large size, fine condition and workmanship are extremely rare.