IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This border or possibly cuff is ...

In 1907 Mrs. James W. Pinchot proposed to assemble a collection of arts and crafts for the Smithsonian Institution. To start this endeavor, Mrs. Pinchot and her collector friends loaned or donated ...

As fall arrives, it can be tempting to pull out our thickest layers and resign ourselves to a season of full, opaque coverage—but one trend is making us reconsider. Victorian-style blouses, cut from ...

Whether depicting a powerful religious leader or a grande dame of society, portraits have pictured important subjects sheathed in lace for generations. Yet despite the intricate textile’s ubiquitous ...

Queen Victoria wore a lace wedding dress when she married her beloved Prince Albert in 1840. It wasn’t that she was so crazy about lace, although its beauty is indisputable. The reason was far more ...

Lace is paradoxical: a textile characterized by its open spaces. It performs no strictly utilitarian function; it neither cloaks the body nor warms it. However, it remained for centuries a highly ...