Item 26-243

This is an early 20th-century antique embroidered doily with a needle lace border. 

This piece has a cotton lawn centre, with small scattered flowers worked in satin stitch using purple and cream silk thread with tiny gold centres. The flowers resemble violets, a popular motif between about 1900 and 1935.

The purple silk embroidery is very characteristic of that era, when coloured floral motifs became fashionable on otherwise white household linens.

The border has an elaborate lace edge featuring large scrolling paisley shapes connected by decorative wheels and bars, a style commonly produced in France, Belgium and parts of Italy during the Edwardian period.

The combination of the delicate floral embroidery and the ornate border suggests it was intended as a display doily rather than an everyday household cloth. Pieces like this were often placed beneath a vase, figurine, lamp, or jewellery box, and were also popular as gifts and part of a young woman’s trousseau.

If gently washed and pressed, it should display beautifully.

40cm