Collar

Unknown

1840–60 · linen · Costume Institute

Lace in the eighteenth century was an expensive item that was only affordable for the upper classes. It was therefore highly valued and kept. As fashions changed in the 19th century, it was common practice to reconfigure the lace from its original form to one that expressed the current mode. This collar is such an example. The lack of symmetry in the design as well as the collar shape which did not exist in the eighteenth century are evidence of this practice.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1840–60

Medium

linen

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Robert B. Woodward, 1915