18th Century Patterned Handkerchiefs

Last updated: July 29, 2024

Both men and women wore patterned handkerchiefs as neckwear in the 18th century.

Many of these examples were printed, likely onto lightweight cotton or sometimes onto linen or silk, as noted in some runaway descriptions; stripes and checked patterns are more likely to have been yarn-dyed and woven into the textile. Some of the examples with white dots or white circles could have been tie-dyed.

Unlike many of the fancier women's fichus and neckerchiefs, these patterned handkerchiefs are almost certainly just squares, folded into whichever shape is appropriate.

Extant handkerchiefs: Woven stripes, checks, and plaids

MFA 51.1992, a handkerchief in deep blue and natural-colored linen in a plaid design, American, 18th century
Met 2009.300.5290, linen in blue, brown, and white, American, c. 1750
Nederlands Openluchtmuseum HM.2808, red and white cotton with the embroidered initials 'M T' with a heart between, 18th century; this style was common in Hindeloopen, with different folding methods for unmarried and married women
MoMu T13/1622, white cotton handkerchief with border stripes in brown, lilac and blue with ikat patterning, 1770-1800
MoMu T13/1626, white cotton handkerchief with red-brown stripe border, 1770-1800
Colonial Williamsburg 2005-101, neck handkerchief woven from blue, brown, and natural-color linen, America, 1780-1820
Plaid and checked handkerchiefs from the Agreeable Tyrant exhibit at the DAR Museum, including “brown plaid linen kerchief, c. 1790, Vermont; … checked blue and white linen kerchief, late 1700s owned by Anna Avery”
MFA 44.804, a handwoven handkerchief in plaid wool marked “E.B.,” American, late 18th or early 19th century

Extant handkerchiefs: Prints

National Museum of Scotland A.1978.422, British, c. 1730-1770
MoMu T12/972/A281, a white cotton handkerchief printed in India with a floral pattern and border, 1750-1800
The Fries Museum has several printed handkerchiefs dating around 1770-1800; T1956-436 is linen with a monochrome brown print, but T1956-413, T1956-414, T1956-437, T1956-439, T1956-440, and T1956-441 are cotton.
William Cowper’s neck handkerchief
MFA 33.669, French, late 18th century; “Cream-colored cotton with border of vermillion stripes, the center printed with reddish violet in a chequer board pattern, a small disc in the center of each square.”
Museon Arlaten 2002.28.1, a square handkerchief in printed wool muslin, c. 1785-1815
Museon Arlaten 2001.16.10, a cotton handkerchief made in Alsace between 1785 and 1830
V&A T.384-1972, a pattern book with “fancy vestings and handkerchief goods” from Maze & Steer of Spitalfields, 1786-1791
Colonial Williamsburg 2018-202, a white cotton handkerchief block-printed to shape with a flower-and-leaf border originally purple (now faded to brown), probably made in England and worn in Albany, New York, 1785-1815
Colonial Williamsburg 2018-203, handkerchief with sprigs and a floral border, probably made in England and worn in Albany, New York, 1785-1815
MoMu AF182, printed cotton handkerchief with floral pattern and border, 1790-1810
Colonial Williamsburg 1974-377, woman’s printed cotton handkerchief with floral sprigs and border, America or England, 1795-1810
Colonial Williamsburg 1974-376, woman’s printed cotton handkerchief with floral sprigs and border, America or Great Britain, 1795-1825
MFA 99.843, probably Scottish, worn in Lexington, Massachusetts, late 18th to early 19th century; “white ground with red, blue, black, and yellow central medallion, which is an eight-pointed stylized flower blossom with petals, bands, berries, and stippling throughout; small red flowers with leaves cover central area; quarter medallions at corners; bands of stylized flower and leaf motifs form inner borders; heavily stippled outer border with bands, petals, and berries similar to medallions; narrow hems at top and bottom with selvedges at sides”
MFA 99.845, handkerchief with white ground and printed black grid and black and brown stripe border, Massachusetts, late 18th or early 19th century
Centraal Museum 13711, printed silk, c. 1800
Winterthur 2009.0011, England or United States, 1790-1810
Winterthur 1960.0193, block-printed linen, England or United States, 1795-1805

Extant handkerchiefs: Tie-dye (bandana)

Colonial Williamsburg 1971-1449,5, yellow silk bandana handkerchief, India, 1750-1820
Colonial Williamsburg 2015-211, red silk handkerchief, probably England, worn in America, 1750-1820
A spotted silk handkerchief from the General Carleton of Whitby, 1785; “now appears black with white hand-painted spots, but may originally have been red or blue, both colors substantiated by the images”
MFA 34.126, red silk handkerchief, India, 18th or 19th century
DAR 92.29, a silk handkerchief (also here)

Depictions of men and women wearing patterned handkerchiefs

In many of the hand-colored mezzotints, different colorists choose different color combinations – or even entirely different patterns – on the same kerchiefs in different versions; I've grouped these together for comparison.

Domestick Employment, Washing; the young woman wears a printed handkerchief
Jersey Nanny by John Greenwood, 1748; a dark-colored kerchief with a pattern of lighter-colored checks
Kitchen scene by Paul Sandby, c. 1754; she wears a white handkerchief with yellow stripes
Andrew Wilkinson, 1755; a handkerchief with a floral (resist?) pattern is wrapped and tied tightly at his neck
Salad Girl, 1758; white dots on a colored ground
London Cries: A Milkmaid by Paul Sandby, c. 1759; the milkmaid wears a spotted handkerchief tied around her head, under her straw hat
Dr Oliver and Mr Peirce, the First Physician and Surgeon Examining Patients Afflicted with Paralysis, Rheumatism and Leprosy by William Hoare, 1761; a female patient wears a checked yellow and red handkerchief, while it appears that a male patient wears a patterned handkerchief wrapped tightly arouund his neck
The Marriage Contract by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1761
Woman with a blue smock by Louis Philippe Boitard; the blue garment appears to be a speckled handkerchief
High Life Below Stairs by John Collet, 1763; one servant (a housekeeper or cook?) wears a striped handkerchief, while a laundress wears a spotted handkerchief
The Ballad Singer by Henry Robert Morland, c. 1764; the pattern appears to be a tie-dye (akin to those in Bandhani = Bandana or Bandannoes), which is easier to see in A Girl Singing Ballads By a Paper Lanthorn
Modern Love: The Elopement by John Collet, 1764; the coachman (or postilion?) wears a blue handkerchief with white spots
Several checked or striped handkerchiefs on women in the Cries of Danzig, c. 1765, including pages 7, 8, 14, 25, 27, 32, 37, etc.
A young woman shucking oysters by lamplight by Henry Robert Morland; she wears a striped handkerchief that is large enough to wrap around her and ties behind her waist. See also Oyster Girl and The Oyster Seller.
A City Shower by Edward Penny, 1764; a spotted handkerchief on a young woman
The Return from the Fair by Edward Penny, 1765
The Young Sportsman by Robert Edge Pine, 1766; he holds a red and white printed handkerchief
A dark-colored (perhaps maroon?) kerchief with red diamonds and white circles on A Girl Singing Ballads by a Paper Lanthorn by Henry Morland, c. 1765-1782 and The Pretty Ballad Singer by Henry Morland, c. 1768-1775
A lady in a printed handkerchief with a striped border in The Lover’s Disguise, c. 1766-1799
The Recruiting Sergeant by John Collet, 1767; a few different patterns on various figures, including stripes and spots
William, Sixth Baron Craven by Francis Cotes, 1768; a dark red handkerchief with white spots is in his hat
The Oyster Woman, 1769; a striped handkerchief, which seems to cross in front of the bodice
The Letter Woman, 1769; she wears the handkerchief tied around her hat, it seems to have white circles (probably tie-dye) on a darker-colored ground
The Lavie Children by Johann Zoffany, c. 1770; a red handkerchief with white spots lies on the ground next to a fishing basket
Scene in a London street by John Collet, 1770; several patterns going on, including a blue handkerchief with white spots tied around a dog's head
Figures in the background of The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, 1770
The Modern Beau in Distress, c. 1770-1775; a man wears a checked handkerchief, while a woman wears a handkerchief with a repeating pattern of three dots
The Peale Family by Charles Willson Peale, 1771-1773; a dark red handkerchief with white spots rests on the table
Woman and child with guinea pig, 1772; white handkerchief with brown (?) checks
A Ladies Maid Purchasing a Leek, 1772; the maid wears a spotted handkerchief
Spring and Winter. Le Printems et L’Hiver. c. 1785-1786; the young woman's handkerchief is white with a design of trios of purple dots with a purple striped border
The Profligate Punished by Neglect by Edward Penny, 1774; the maid's handkerchief has a subtle color-on-color double stripe
A Sticker-up of Bills on Tower Hill at the Rendezvous at the King’s Arms by Gabriel Bray, 1774; the man wears a handkerchief that appears to be checked, with a thick red check border surrounding a finer black check
High Life Below Stairs by Thomas Orde, 1774; the cook wears a striped handkerchief
Slight of hand by a monkey, or, The lady’s head unloaded, 1776; a butcher wears a spotted handkerchief
The sailor’s present, or, The jealous clown, 1778; a young woman in a double-striped handkerchief, a young man in a striped handkerchief, and a young woman in another patterned handkerchief (floral?)
The Sailor’s Present - or, The Jealous Clown, 1778; a young woman in a double-striped handkerchief, a young man in a spotted handkerchief, and a young woman in a spotted handkerchief
Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley, 1778; young man at lower left wears a pattern similar to those discussed in Bandhani = Bandana or Bandannoes, the West African crewman at the center wears a checked handkerchief
La marchande de tisane by Françoise Duparc, 1778; she wears a striped handkerchief
A Girl Buying a Ballad by Henry Walton, 1778; the old street vendor wears a dark red handkerchief with white spots (and border stripes?)
An English jack-tar giving monsieur a drubbing, 1779; the English sailor wears a spotted handkerchief
Spring, 1779; both the young woman and old woman wear blue handkerchiefs with white spots, but the patterns are slightly different
Spring, 1779; a young woman wears a blue handkerchief with white spots, while an old woman wears a dark red handkerchief with white spots
Spring, 1779; both the young woman and the old woman wear red handkerchiefs with white spots
My Wife and Your Wife, 1779; the wife on the right wears a spotted handkerchief
The Hay Cart by Francis Wheatley, 1779; one of the women seems to be wearing a dark red handkerchief with white spots
An English jack-tar giving monsieur a drubbing, 1779
The Miseries of Idleness by George Morland, 1780; the wife wears a printed handkerchief with a fancy floral pattern
Beating Up for Recruits, 1780
The Watercress Girl by Johann Zoffany, 1780; she wears a spotted handkerchief
Youth and Age, c. 1780-1790; a spotted handkerchief on an old woman (another version)
A Cornish Hug, 1781; a woman wears a striped handkerchief
Drawing of a lady coming from the circulating library by John Raphael Smith, c. 1781; she wears a red spotted handkerchief
A poor woman wearing a striped hadnkerchief in The Rapacious Quack, 1782
The Camp Laundry, 1782; a speckled handkerchief on a young woman
The Sailor Riding to Portsmouth; the sailor wears a red handkerchief with white spots, while the landlady at the inn wears a blue handkerchief with white spots
College Breakfast, 1783; a woman wears a white handkerchief with darker-colored dots
A kitchen maid by Hugues Taraval, 1783; she wears a handkerchief with a striped pattern
College Breakfast, 1783; a maid wears a spotted handkerchief
Death of Captain James Cook by George Carter, 1783; several of the sailors wear printed handkerchiefs, including at least one in a spotted handkerchief
A Student of the Stable, 1783; he wears a spotted handkerchief
The Lovely Lavinia, 1784; a spotted handkerchief on a young woman
A St. Giles’s Beauty, 1784; the handkerchief appears to have a checked and spotted pattern, possibly a ruffle?
The Country Tooth-Drawer, 1784; a country woman wears a yellow kerchief with darker-colored spots, with darker stripes along the edges; the farrier wears a blue kerchief with white spots
Love in a Village, 1784; a spotted or floral handkerchief with a striped border on a young woman, a spotted handkerchief on a young man
Out of Place. Hors D’Emploi. 1784; the landlady wears a printed handkerchief with a pattern of dots and stripes; a politician has a dotted handkerchief poking out of his pocket
Reapers by George Stubbs, 1785; the woman at far left wears a dark red dotted handkerchief (also an enamel of Reapers from 1795 retains the same figure)
Handkerchief from the General Carleton of Whitby, 1785
The Sailor's Return by Francis Wheatley, 1786; the young sailor wears a red neckerchief with white circles (see Bandhani = Bandana or Bandannoes), while the girl wears a blue and white checked handkerchief
The Return from Market by Francis Wheatley, 1786; a woman wears a striped handkerchief, while a child behind her wears a handkerchief (possibly blue with white spots?) tied around her head
A market girl holding a mallard duck by John Russell, 1787; she wears a checked handkerchief
Molly Milton, the Pretty Oyster Woman, 1788; she wears a bright yellow handkerchief with a red floral print
Soldier with Country Women Selling Ribbons, near a Military Camp by Francis Wheatley, 1788; the country women wear colored or patterned handkerchiefs, one appears to be a check pattern while another may be a print
Visit to the Child at Nurse by George Morland, 1788; the nurse wears a spotted handkerchief
The Lord Mayor's Procession by Water to Westminster, London, 9 November 1789 by Richard Paton and Francis Wheatley; a few different patterns and colors on the women in the foreground
Timothy Matlack by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1790; he holds a handkerchief with a pattern similar to examples in Bandhani = Bandana or Bandannoes
The Cherry Girl, 1790; she wears a spotted handkerchief
Poor Tom Bowling, 1791; Tom wears a dark red handkerchief with white spots, while a woman in mourning holds a white handkerchief with red dots and a red border
An old woman with The roguish boy, 1791
Favourite Chickens Going to Market, 1792; a woman wears a handkerchief with a pattern of white circles
The Prodigal Son taking leave, 1792; his mother wears a yellow handkerchief with striped borders and a pattern in black and white dots
Outside the Ale-House Door by George Morland, 1792; both men appear to be wearing red patterned (spotted?) handkerchiefs, one as a hatband and one at his neck. See also Outside the Alehouse Door
The Lucky Escape, or, Jolly Carpenter, 1793; a ploughman and a woman wear spotted handkerchiefs
St. James’s day, 1793; floral (?) and striped (?) patterns on women
A Cottage Exterior: A Seated Labourer Filling His Pipe by William Redmore Bigg, 1793
Scene from 'The Register Office' by Joseph Reed by Benjamin Vandergucht; the actor on the right wears a spotted handkerchief
British Plenty, 1794; the sailor wears a spotted handkerchief
A Sailor Boy relating the Story of his Shipwreck to a Cottage Family, 1794; an old woman in a dotted or floral handkerchief, and a younger woman in a striped handkerchief
New Mackrel, New Mackerel, 1795; a woman selling mackerel wears a spotted handkerchief
Sandwich-carrots! dainty sandwich-carrots!, 1796; striped kerchief
Mr. Suett as Dicky Gossip in 'My Grandmother' by Samuel de Wilde, 1797; a man wears a red handkerchief with white stripes and spots
A servant in the doorway wearing a spotted handkerchief The Family Made Happy - The Child Found, 1797
A young woman wearing a spotted handkerchief in The Shipwrecked Tar, 1797
Morning After the Storm, The Husband’s Return, 1798; the wife wears a spotted handkerchief
At the Inn Door by Henry Singleton; the woman wears a striped handkerchief
Johnny Going to the Fair by George Morland; the woman leaning out of the door seems to have a patterned kerchief tied over her cap and around her head
Portrait of a woman and a boy, last quarter of the 18th century; she wears a dark red handkerchief with a pattern of white circles
Figure study by John Opie; a young woman in a red handkerchief with a pattern of white circles
Portrait of Isaline Fé by Firmin Massot, c. 1785-1790
Visit to the child at nurse by George Morland, 1788; the nurse wears a reddish handkerchief with white spots
Checked handkerchiefs (blue/white and red/white) on women in A scene at Billingsgate by John Locker, 1793
Henry Angelo by Mather Brown; he wears a dark red handkerchief with a white check pattern, wrapped and tied in the open neckline of his fencing jacket
Morning by Francis Wheatley, 1799; a woman wears a white kerchief with a blue check pattern
Evening by Francis Wheatley, 1799; the man wears a red kerchief with a white check patern, picking up the color of his red jacket
Venus attired by the Graces, 1800; two of the maids wear spotted handkerchiefs. One handkerchief appears to be brown with white spots, while the other handkerchief is white with red spots.
Easy Money by George Morland; the woman at far right wears a kerchief around her head, tied under her chin.
The Benevolent Cottager wears a yellow handkerchief with a green grid pattern
The four eldest children of Sir Richard Croft by John James Halls, c. 1803, playing with a blue handkerchief with white diamond-shaped spots
Samuel Thomas Russell in Samuel Foote's “The Mayor of Garratt” by Samuel De Wilde, c. 1810-1811, with a bindle made from a red handkerchief with white spots

Descriptions of patterned handkerchiefs (mostly from runaway ads)

“a yellow and white strip’d muslin Handkerchief” (Boston Weekly News-Letter, July 11, 1745)
“check’d Hankerchief” (Boston Post Boy, January 14, 1754)
“a speckled Linnen handkerchief wound about his Neck” (New-York Gazette, August 16, 1756)
“striped Handkerchief” (Pennsylvania Gazette, July 20, 1758)
“a dark silk spotted handkerchief” (Pennsylvania Gazette, March 27, 1760)
“a speckled Handkerchief” (New-York Gazette, March 5, 1763)
“a striped silk handkerchief” (Pennsylvania Gazette, August 3, 1769)
“a striped silk handkerchief” (Pennsylvania Gazette, June 13, 1771)
“check silk handkerchief” (Pennsylvania Gazette, August 19, 1772)
“A maſculine and robuſt wench, with a red ſpotted handkerchief wrapped round her head” (A Walk through Pall-Mall, London Magazine, 1773)
“a linen handkerchief on his neck, and a bandanno handkerchief on his head” (Newport Mercury, August 29, 1774)
“a checked Silk Handkerchief” (Providence Gazette, May 27, 1775)
“one new black Barcelona handkerchief, one spotted ditto” (Connecticut Courant, May 26, 1777)
“the ſpotted handkerchief round his neck, preſerved at once its owner from catching cold, and his neckcloth from being dirtied” (The Man of Feeling, 1778)
“one bark silk stampt Handkerchief, one checked linen Do. marked D” (Connecticut Courant, November 19, 1782)
“red spotted silk Handkerchief” (Connecticut Courant, July 8, 1783)