By the third quarter of the seventeenth century lace-trimmed cravats had replaced lace collars as the fashionable form of men's neckwear at the courts of Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England. The rectangular shape of the lace trim at both ends of a fine linen cravat allowed for a wide range of designs. Brussels lace makers in particular excelled in creating delicate yet complex figurative compositions with motifs often taken from ornamental engravings. This cravat end of Brussels bobbin lace, one of the finest examples in the Museum's extensive collection of lace, contains many allusions to Louis XIV and his military victories. In the center, the cock of France perches atop trophies of war flanked by figures of Mars and Minerva; and emblems of the king—the Order of the Holy Ghost (left) and the sun (right)—fill the upper corners. Louis XIV's monogram, a double L, appears in the swag at the bottom center. Dilys Blum, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 85.