Kerchief

Date1780-1795

MediumCotton tabby, silk needlework.

DimensionsOW: 90"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1985-131

DescriptionTriangular neck handkerchief of sheer white cotton embroidered along two edges with colored silks in a running vine and flower design with larger sprig at point of triangle. Narrow hems.Label TextThroughout the eighteenth century, women wore triangles or folded squares of fabric over the shoulders and around their necks for warmth, modesty, and decoration. These accessories were known as kerchiefs, or neck handkerchiefs. In the nineteenth century, similar garments were called fichus. In the 1780s, fashionable kerchiefs were large and worn puffed out over the chest.Inscription(s)"S*L" in cross stitches.