Polychrome Buratto table cover

52.5" x 35" with additional 5/8" wide bobbinlace on all sides.  (133.35cm x 88.9cm, 1.58cm)
Very good stabilized condition. Some localized loss in the center cloth. At some point a backing of a similar openwork fabric has been attached to the back of the buratto, and also used as a replacement for the mesh where it is missing in the original piece (particularly along the right side in the photo below). The conservation work on this piece is outstanding - more study is needed.

A polychrome buratto table cover embroidered in colored silks and gold metallic thread. The central portion is red silk on the back side and a brocaded fabric on the front.  A bobbinlace plaited border of gold metallic thread with small colored silk tassels is attached on all four sides. I have seen similar arrangments of a central solid colored silk cloth surrounded by polychrome buratto border, but nothing this elaborate. This is probably an 18th c piece, quite elaborate.

Ex. coll. Leopold Iklé. There is a lable on one corner saying "Sammlung Leopold Iklé 400". The "Textilesammlung Iklé, Katalog 1908" published by the Industrie und Gewerbe Museum St. Gallen (where a lot of his collection ended up) has an entry for item 400 reading:

Durchbrucharbeit.
Geometrisches Durchbruchmotiv und Blatstichstickerei. Unten kräftige, geklöppelte Zachen aus dem 17. Jahrhundert.

The translation escapes me, but it does mention geometric designs and bobbinlace.

assession number 2021.1.126
purchased 10/28/2021 Drouot 10/27/2021 aftersale, lot 138 
first posted 02/08/2009