Long prized for its delicacy and open patterns, lace is produced by manipulating threads independent of a base fabric. It is usually made of linen thread, but other materials can be used. Needle lace is traditionally made by placing threads on a pattern drawn on parchment; the gaps between these guide threads are then filled with stitches using a needle and thread. The second principal type of lace is called bobbin lace, since thread is wound onto spools, or bobbins. The threads are then woven or twisted together around pins inserted onto a pillow.

The collecting of lace became popular in the late nineteenth century, and around 1900 most American museums displayed lace. For example, Thomas Wilson, an anthropologist, formed a lace collection of more than a thousand pieces, which was exhibited in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where Mrs. Gardner must have seen it. Wilson’s collection was later acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art. Many museum leaders believed that examples of historic lace would be relevant to workers in the textile industry.

This lace panel is a rare piece of point de France. The patterns allegorize Louix XIV’s political and military power. The piece consists of more than nineteen individual fragments, which have been skillfully sewn together to create a continuous panel of great delicacy.

Source: Bonnie Halvorson, "Lace," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al (Boston: ISGM, 2003): 120.

Purchased in 1897 from Lady Kenmare.