Handkerchief

Emma Radford

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emma Radford was a prize-winning lacemaker and designer in her native Devon. Devonshire bobbin lace, commonly known as Honiton lace, comprised individual motifs that were later joined together. Queen Victoria chose Honiton lace for her wedding ensemble in 1840, leading to a boom in its popularity in the mid-nineteenth century. Philanthropists of the period were intent on increasing sales of handmade lace to alleviate the poverty of lacemakers. This movement coincided with the development of a new and uniquely English style of lace that incorporated motifs of highly naturalistic flowers, birds, and insects. The techniques developed to craft three-dimensional effects such as those seen in this piece, sometimes called raised work, were a specialty of Honiton lace workers.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art