Scarf
Unknown Artist
ca. 1870
Medium
silk
Classification
Scarf
Culture
French
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Stanley Palmer Jadwin, 1958
Accession Number
2009.300.1956
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of 19th-century French fashion with this delicate silk scarf, created around 1870 by an unknown. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, this piece exemplifies the refined craftsmanship of France's golden age of textiles. Silk, a luxurious and prized medium, was woven with precision in regions like Lyon, renowned for its innovative Jacquard looms that enabled intricate patterns and vibrant dyes—hallmarks of haute couture. During the 1870s, amid the waning years of the Second Empire, scarves like this served as versatile accessories, draped ove...