The rich brown leather of these gloves is unusual; most surviving gloves from the seventeenth century are lighter in color. However, the motifs embroidered on the gauntlets—pea pods and blossoms—were quite common during the period. Pea pods were often associated with romantic love. They are found on both household furnishings and other accessories of dress, such as a woman's jacket of about the same date in the Museum's collection (23.170.1).