Fragment with Repeated Square Pattern

1500s-1600s

Fragment with Repeated Square Pattern, 1500s-1600s. Italy, 16th-17th century. Needle lace; filet/lacis (knotted ground and darned in two directions); bleached, dyed, and unbleached linen (est.); overall: 27 x 30.3 cm (10 5/8 x 11 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of J. H. Wade 1920.1157 The prominent colors on this fragment of lace also determine the diagonal and square patterns within the textile. The dark yellow is unbleached linen, the white is bleached linen, and the blue is linen that has been bleached and dyed. The word lace derives from the Latin laqueus, meaning noose.