Tassel of pink and white silk on a gilt mould. Hexagonal in shape in horizontal section, and from the top downwards in ever increasing width are a knob, a slender waist, a bulbous shape, another waist, and a straight sided part with slightly curved top. Wooden core covered with gesso, bole and gold leaf. The base is left as bare wood. Both bole and gesso show on the upper section, and gesso in the lower.
Covering of pink and white separate strands of twisted silk. The top part is bare. At the second waist are two rows of closely packed silk loops. Then come silk cords knotted on a wide lattice pattern over the gold leaf, pink and white on alternate sides of the hexagon. Another row of loops fills the waist above the rim which holds out the fringe. The fringe is straight cut with falls of pink and white silk in alternate sections, plus the pink and white cords, unravelled at the ends, from the netted section.Tassel of silk on a gilt mould, Italy, 17th century-18th century