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Straw work Collar
c 1860

probably French, of black machine lace hand embroidered with straw work split to produce swags of stylised leaves and flowers and spots scattered throughout,and with straw thread embroidery, with flat shoulder section sewn with a scalloped frill, 9 x 27 in; 23 x 69 cm widest part

Comments

Rare and fantastic. Straw work was in fashion for about a hundred years, from the second half of the 18th c. to about the 1870's. The V & A Museum in London has a piece displayed in the Textile Study Room T100-1992 pull out frame H19. See also Johnston, Lucy Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detailp 206. Here it states all straw motifs were probably made in Switzerland. France was the leading manufacturer of straw-decorated objects until the mid-19th c. See: Main, Veronica Swiss Straw Work - Techniques of a Fashion Industry

Condition

Mint.