millstone collar

plural millstone collars

1. A ruff; a highly stiffened, pleated, or gathered collar that encircles the neck; popularized during the European Renaissance (mid-16th to mid-17th centuries).

   A clown in white makeup and a millstone collar held a small monkey before a backdrop of sagging canvas

   2016, Drury, Tom, Hunts in dreams, page 168

   3 more examples

   There she sits, with her chords and cogitations, which she learned as a child at the French royal court [...] She sits, in a millstone collar, sleeve puffs [...]

   1987, Hildesheimer, Wolfgang, 1916-, The collected stories of Wolfgang Hildesheimer, page 149

   A man in a white millstone collar and black costume is viewed three-quarter length and turned to the right. His right hand is placed on his hip, and his left hand holds a pair of gloves. At the right on a table is a book with an hourglass on top of it.

   1990, Sutton, Peter C, Northern European Paintings in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, page 70

   They wear expensive lace cuffs; his is the lace collar customary for men whereas she wears a millstone collar, with an embroidered and ribboned cap, usually worn indoors or under another hat.

   2011, JANSON, “Renaissance Through Rococco”, in Janson's History Of Art, page 718