Salute the New Season with Spring-Perfect Scarves

Art Scarves Make Perfect Gifts

From fabulous florals to a dramatic diamond motif, the patterns defining our latest scarves pay homage to perennial designs created across cultures and eras. Shop the new arrivals below.

Hungarian Folk Florals Oversize Cotton Scarf

A richly embroidered apron from the Matyó region of Hungary serves as the inspiration behind this kaleidoscopic cotton scarf.

The Museum’s apron, now in The Met’s European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection, exemplifies the densely patterned freehand embroidery that Matyó is celebrated for. Though regional folk arts thrived particularly in the 1860s and 70s, this example from around 1920 effectively showcases the varieties of colors and flowers popular in Matyó’s costume traditions.

Apron. Hungarian, Matyó. Silk, cotton; ca. 1920. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Eleanor Pepper, 1986 2009.300.3383

Asian Flora and Fauna Oversize Cotton Scarf

The pattern on this oversize cotton scarf is adapted from a late 12th–14th-century embroidered textile in The Met’s Asian Art collection.

The original piece, with its profusion of animals, birds, and flowers, showcases the eclecticism of Central Asian art: the placement of animals at its cardinal points appeared in the region during China’s Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE); the birds, especially the parrot, reflect the influence of Tang-dynasty (618–907) art; and the floral and foliate designs became widespread in Central Asia and North China during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). Our scarf pays homage to these enduring motifs on the Museum’s eye-catching textile.

Textile with Animals, Birds, and Flowers. Eastern Central Asia. Silk embroidery on plain weave silk, late 12th–14th century. Rogers Fund, 1988 1988.296

Muted Florals Beaded Scarf

Particularly popular during the second half of the 18th century were decorative printed papers used to wrap pamphlets and booklets, such as the example that inspired this embroidered and beaded scarf.

These less expensive but still aesthetically pleasing alternatives to leather book covers could be applied to objects of different sizes and produced in a wide variety of patterns, some of which were also repurposed for fabrics. This particular floral motif is characterized by a charming design of stems, leaves, flowers, and berries.

Decorative paper with an overall floral pattern. Anonymous. Relief print (wood or metal), 18th century. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926 26.71.9(6)

Gujarat Diamond-Pattern Merino Wool Scarf

A luxurious layer for those chilly spring days. The bold geometric pattern adapted on our merino wool scarf is borrowed from a cotton textile fragment in The Met’s Islamic Art collection, made in 13th–14th-century India but found in Egypt.

Fabrics were among the most valuable commodities in the medieval marketplace, and this piece serves as evidence of trade relations between these two regions. The original design, reminiscent of motifs found in Jain manuscripts and architecture from the Indian province of Gujarat, is well preserved thanks to the arid Egyptian climate.