Pair of gloves

These brightly contrasting patterned gloves are typical of a style of glove produced in Spain about 1800. They are kidskin dyed in pastel colours and printed in black in decorative and figurative designs. This pair bears a lozenge pattern, with each compartment filled with a motif. Flowers, birds and a series of rustic figures adorn the leather. The edge at the wrist is scalloped and pinked.

Now surviving in museum collections throughout Europe and North America, this style of glove must have been a brief, but very popular fad of the last years of the 18th century. As gloves were one of the few gifts a man could give to a single woman he was not engaged to marry, new designs and colours were eagerly sought after to provide variety in this staple form of present.