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Woven ribbon trim, black-and-white scallop-and-dot pattern

Object/Artifact

A length of narrow decorative ribbon/trim on a white ground patterned in black, wound into a coil. The design runs lengthwise: a row of black scallops (arches) each enclosing a solid black dot along the upper part of the band, with a border of fine black stripes and a dotted/dashed line below, and a finer striped edge. The band has finished woven selvedges along both edges and cut, slightly frayed ends with a few loose threads. The reverse shows the pattern in reverse colorway with weft floats, consistent with a figured woven ribbon. It reads as a cut length or remnant of yardage rather than a finished article.

Woven ribbon trim, black-and-white scallop-and-dot pattern Woven ribbon trim, black-and-white scallop-and-dot pattern Woven ribbon trim, black-and-white scallop-and-dot pattern - Image 2 Woven ribbon trim, black-and-white scallop-and-dot pattern - Image 2
Woven ribbon trim, black-and-white scallop-and-dot pattern - Image 2

2025.1.49

Among María A. Cabrera Arús sewing materials.

The Cabrera Arús family collection

Gertrudis Caraballo Gálvez collecition

2025.1

MAKER: Unknown; unmarked. No selvedge lettering, label, or maker's mark is present. DATE / PERIOD: Not marked; undetermined. Decorative woven trim of this kind is broadly twentieth-century; no closer date can be fixed from the object. ORIGIN: Place of manufacture undetermined (no country-of-origin mark). Purchased in Cuba in the 1980s.

Good

María A. Arús Caraballo

owner

Havana

Cuba

Caribbean

Central America

purchase

The structure — finished selvedges with a figured motif and a reverse colorway with weft floats — is what distinguishes a woven figured ribbon from an embroidered tape and is the main thing to confirm on the object. The cut ends and retained loose threads suggest a remnant kept for future sewing rather than a finished item, an inference consistent with a household practice of saving usable trimmings; it is not separately documented for this piece. Acquisition in Cuba is recorded per owner information; the place of manufacture is unmarked and not determinable from the object, and no route of entry is assumed. The piece carries no marks to localize maker, origin, or date.