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Title: Seven Centuries of Lace
Author: Pollen, Mrs. John Hungerford
Language: English
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[Transcriber's Notes:
Inconsistencies in spelling (for example "fogliami" vs. "foliami") have
generally been preserved as originally printed. All corrections made to
the text are listed at the end of this ebook.]
SEVEN
CENTURIES
OF LACE
_BY_
MRS. JOHN HUNGERFORD POLLEN
WITH A PREFACE BY ALAN COLE, C.B.
AND 120 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
MCMVIII
_Printed in England_
PREFACE
DEAR MRS. POLLEN,--Having examined the admirable photographs to your
lace collection, and the letterpress which you have written to accompany
them, with a view to meet your wish that I should make revisions and
suchlike where I thought necessary, please allow me in the first place
to thank you for having entrusted me with what has been a very congenial
work, and to say that I really have but few suggestions to offer. Such
as they are, they amount to little more than amplifying, and slightly
modifying here and there, what you have written.
Your glossary of terms used in describing lace and cognate work is very
full, and contains several Italian terms which strike me as being
unquestionably of technical value in supplementing information put
forward in the best English works on lace-making.
Upon the introductory part of your attractive letterpress you also asked
me to freely express an opinion, giving it such a shape as to make it
suitable for use as a preface to your work. I now do this with
considerable diffidence, notwithstanding that during a good many years I
have had a large number of specimens of lace before me, including
probably some of the finest ever made. You had the initial advantage of
inheriting lace of incontestable origin and antiquity, and also of
finding specimens in different countries where facts and traditions of
their manufacture could be ascertained on the spot.
For so long a period as that from, say, the sixteenth to the eighteenth
centuries, men derived as much satisfaction in acquiring and wearing
laces as women then did. But _autres temps, autres mœurs_, and
closely as our sex may at one time have run yours in the appreciation of
lace, yours has outstripped and beaten ours. This, of course, is as it
should be, for skill in all forms of needlework and dainty thread-work
has practically been the monopoly of women from the time of Penelope
forwards, notwithstanding the strict observance of the rule laid down by
St. Benedict that the members of his Order should be expert in the use
of both pen and needle (as they were for centuries); or the records of
the seventeenth century, that boys attended lace-making schools in
Devonshire, and that English tailors and labouring men often made good
saleable lace in their leisure time during the eighteenth century.
With your suggestion that many sorts of white thread ornamental work,
from which a development of needle-made and bobbin-made laces can be
traced, are of earlier date than the sixteenth century, I entirely
agree; and in corroboration of this, various public collections, within
comparatively recent times, have secured from disused ancient Coptic
cemeteries in Egypt fragments of elaborate nettings and Saracenic
examples of that kind of work which you identify with the Italian
"Sfilatura" and "punto a stuora." This last-named stitch is virtually
the stitch used in tapestry-making, and it often appears on a small
scale in intricate, drawn and whipped thread Persian linen embroidery,
the practice of which is assuredly of great age. These methods of
stitching for ornamental purposes appear to have been well known in
countries coming at some time or another under the direct influence of
Saracenic embroiderers; but it is interesting to note they are not
identical in character with that of buttonhole stitching, which plays so
important a part in lace-making.
The essential feature of the fabric now recognised as lace lies in its
being wrought independently of any visible foundation such as linen or
net; it is essentially a textile ornamentation depending upon special
design, which can be rendered, so far as needle-point lace is concerned,
by variations of the buttonhole stitch--the "punto a festone" in Italy,
and "point noué" in France--which is distinctively a looping, and not a
whipping or weaving, stitch; and so far as bobbin-made lace is
concerned, by twisting and plaiting threads together.
The genesis of ornamental design for such laces is, I fancy, pretty well
established through the classification of kindred designs, beginning
with those involving simple abstract and geometric forms; these are
gradually succeeded by others with conventional and more varied devices,
suggesting plant and animal life; and these followed by others in which
definitely realistic renderings of actual things are aimed at. Thus,
very broadly, we have three typical groups, and of the first your
photographs Nos. 3, 6, 7, with 29, 30, and 86, give examples; of the
second group there are examples in photographs Nos. 11, 12, 16, 17, &c.;
and the third group is illustrated by Nos. 36 and 37, 90 to 93, and 116.
The sixteenth-century Italian pattern books are mainly concerned with
designs for lace of the first group as distinct from embroidery on linen
or net. The period of the second group is established by the laces one
finds represented in paintings by such painters as Vandyck, Rembrandt,
Gonzales Coques, Mignard, and Hyacinthe Rigaud, whilst the generality of
the designs in the third group is safely attributable to designers
employed towards the end of the seventeenth century, and during the
eighteenth by the Royal or State subsidised manufactories of France,
about which several local records, quoted by Mademoiselle Despierre in
her book on the Points d'Alençon, are particularly interesting. Laces of
rather indeterminate design, such as those which we call peasant laces,
have, as a rule, a quaint treatment of pattern, the origin of which is,
I think, almost invariably to be referred to some carefully designed
prototype; but the charm of such peasant laces lies chiefly in the
goodness of their texture combined with a distortion of forms, which
arises from the workers' naïveté in misunderstanding the parent design.
The really valuable work was that of sympathetic and skilled workers,
done directly from well-designed patterns.
Now the origin of needle-point and bobbin-made laces is, I think,
Occidental, or European, and not Oriental; and the three broadly
indicated pattern groups are accompanied by three equally recognisable
sorts of texture. The first of them is comparatively stiff and wiry; the
second more lissom and inclined to tapiness; and the third, still more
lissom, becoming gauzy and filmy in quality. Delicate, filmy laces,
common to the eighteenth century, could not, therefore, I think, have
been dreamt of in the sixteenth century; neither at that time was there
a conception of the tapey, and at times linen-like, laces made in the
early part and middle of the seventeenth century. Hence we seem able to
rely upon an apparent procession of design types, running concurrently
with an equally apparent procession of qualities of texture. By keeping
in mind these combined successions of pattern and texture one is enabled
not only to classify laces, but also to account for later survivals of
old types, as well as for the approximate dates when old and new types
severally have arisen.
It is evident that the French word "dentelle," which is a comprehensive
term for laces, came from the "dents," or tooth-shaped borders and edges
of lace made soon after the beginning of the sixteenth century. At the
same time, there had been during two centuries earlier, a fashion of
jagging or cutting into points or scallops the borders of cloth silk and
velvet costumes, gowns, hoods, and long sleeves. But when the notably
increased use of linen shirts, with cuffs and small collars just showing
beyond the outer garments occurred in the sixteenth century, white and
coloured thread purlings and taut fringings or edgings were made for
them, and so came to be called "points," "dents" and "punti" as the cut
borders of cloth costumes had been. The latter fashion gradually
obscured the former, and thus the terms "point," "dent," and "punto"
were almost solely applied to ornamentation in real lace or in lace-like
fabrics. In still later times, as you notice, point lace is generally
understood to be the designation of needle-point lace, or "dentelle à
l'aiguille," as distinct from the "dentelle au fuseau," bobbin or
pillow-made lace.
I have been tempted to touch upon this matter of lace points, vandykes,
and scallops because the border of the alb, said to have been worn by
Pope Boniface VIII., consists of scallops of bobbin-made thread-work,
and of a type of pattern and texture which I should say cannot very well
be earlier in date than the middle of the sixteenth century. On the
other hand, the ornamental thread-work done in "punto di treccia" and
"punto a stuora," which fills large and small squares and remarkable
five-sided figures, seems to have some Saracenic or Moorish character,
and may possibly not be assignable to the sixteenth century with the
same cogency of inference as applies to the scallops of Italian
"merletti a piombini" on the border of the alb.
Whatever may be the result of further inquiries concerning the tradition
of Pope Boniface having worn this alb, and therefore establishing its
date as being late thirteenth century, I hope that you will retain it as
an illustration in your book.
Whilst the majority of your photographs are from generally well-known
varieties of lace, those from the earlier drawn thread-works and darning
upon different makes of square mesh, net, or grounds of radiating,
intertwisted threads, are particularly interesting--and the entire
series, accompanied by your descriptions, forms a most valuable
encyclopædia of designs and textures to be seen in laces and cognate
fabrics.
Believe me to be,
Yours very truly,
ALAN S. COLE.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE BY MR. A. COLE v
INTRODUCTION 3
GLOSSARY 9
NEEDLEPOINT LACE 21
BOBBIN-MADE LACE 43
INDEX 55
LIST OF PLATES
PLATE
I. The Alb, preserved at Assisi, said to have been worn by St.
Francis
II. The Alb which is said to have been worn by Pope Boniface,
A.D. 1298
III. (1) Detail of the Alb of Pope Boniface VIII.
(2) Detail of the Assisi Alb
IV. Three Pieces of Needlework from Egypto-Roman or Coptic Tombs
of the Second and Third Centuries
V. (1) A Piece of Bobbin-made Lace
(2) Darned Work with White Linen Thread
(3) Portion of a Mummy Cloth
VI. Two Examples of Italian Tela Tirata and Punto Reale
VII. An Example of Early Lacis or Sfilatura
VIII. Seven Enlarged Stitches used in Lacis and Linen Lace
IX. Five Enlarged Varieties of Réseaux
X. Seven Enlarged Varieties of Réseaux
XI. Border of Lacis or darned Square Mesh Net Punto a Tela or
Linen-Stitch
XII. Border of Square Mesh Lacis
XIII. Two Examples of Lacis Work
XIV. Part of a Quilt
XV. Lacis Table-Cover
XVI. No. 1. Vandyke Border of Lacis
No. 2. Part of a Quilt of Squares of Lacis
XVII. Border of Lacis with the Twisted Mesh called Buratto
XVIII. Two Borders of Lacis called Buratto
XIX. Band of Tela Tirata or Drawn Work
XX. Part of a Cover of Tela Tirata or Drawn Work
XXI. Band or Flounce of Tela Tirata or Drawn Work
XXII. An Infant's Swaddling Band or "Fascia" of Tela Tirata
XXIII. Band of a Variety of Tela Tirata
XXIV. Linen Cloth with Border
XXV. Two Bands
XXVI. Pyx Veil of Tela Tirata, or Drawn Thread Work
XXVII. A Portion of the Pyx Cloth, to show both sides of the work
XXVIII. Three Cloths, Fringed
XXIX. Two Borders
XXX. Two Borders
XXXI. Two Examples
XXXII. Chalice Cover of Reticello and Punto in Aria
XXXIII. A Reticello Pattern worked in very fine Punto in Aria and
Punto Avorio
XXXIV. Scalloped Border of a Corporal of Flat Needle-Point Lace,
called Punto in Aria
XXXV. A Cloth with Insertion and Border of Punto in Aria
XXXVI. Needle-Point Border of Flat Needle-Point Lace, called Punto
in Aria
XXXVII. Ornament for the Neck of an Alb of Punto in Aria
XXXVIII. Border and Edging
XXXIX. A Lady's Camisia or Shirt
XL. Bed-Cover of Cut Linen Lace (Tela Tagliata a Foliami and
Punto a Festone)
XLI. Rabat of Flat Needle-Point Lace à Brides
XLII. Part of a Dress Trimming of very fine Needle-Point, called
Rose-Point
XLIII. Parts of a Collar of Needle-Point, called Rose-Point or Point
de Venise
XLIV. Stomacher (for a Dress) of Needle-Point, called Rose-Point or
Point de Venise
XLV. Part of a Flounce of Needle-Point, called Rose-Point or Point
de Venise
XLVI. Part of a Beautiful Flounce of Delicate Needle-Point of Raised
or Rose-Point Lace, known as Point de Venise
XLVII. Portion of XLVI., actual size
XLVIII. Paten Cover of Needle-Point Raised, or Rose-Point Lace, very
similar in style and gracefulness to that of No. XXXIII.
XLIX. A Portion of XLVIII., magnified to show the stitches
L. Three Borders of Delicate Needle-Point Raised, or
Rose-Point Lace
LI. Deep Flounce of Needle-Point Lace à Brides Picotées, usually
called Point de France
LII. Portion of LI., enlarged
LIII. Border of Needle-Point Raised Lace, called Spanish Rose-Point
LIV. Two Specimens of Needle-Point Raised Lace, called Spanish
Rose-Point
LV. Two Examples of Needle-Point Lace
LVI. Cap of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau
LVII. A Border of Needle-Point Lace, Venetian Point à Réseau
LVIII. Two Examples of Venetian Point à Réseau
LIX. A Border of Needle-Point Lace, possibly Venetian, though the
style is French
LX. Two Patterns Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point D'Alençon
LXI. Two Borders of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point
D'Alençon
LXII. Four Borders of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point
D'Alençon
LXIII. Cap-Border of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point
D'Alençon
LXIV. Beautiful Lappet of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point
D'Alençon
LXV. Three Patterns of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point
D'Alençon
LXVI. Two Patterns of Needle-Point Lace à Réseau, called Point
D'Alençon
LXVII. Cape of Needle-Point called Point D'Alençon
LXVIII. Two Borders of Needle-Point Lace
LXIX. Lappet of Needle-Point Lace, called Point D'Argentan
LXX. Three Specimens of Needle-Point Lace
LXXI. Lappet of Needle-Point Lace
LXXII. Part of a Scarf
LXXIII. Flounce of Machine-made Net with Pattern darned on it
LXXIV. Part of Full-Size Cotta of Net with Large Flower Pattern
darned in Silk into it
LXXV. A Specimen of the Embroidered Muslin Work called Tönder Lace
LXXVI. Two Specimens of the Embroidered Muslin Work called Tönder Lace
LXXVII. Three Patterns of Muslin Lace
LXXVIII. Four Patterns of Dutch Linen Lace
LXXIX. (1) Manila Lace
(2 and 3) Lace Worked in Needle-Point
LXXX. (1) Infant's Baptism Cap
(2) A Cap Border
LXXXI. Three Specimens of Early Irish Needle-Point Lace
LXXXII. Specimen of Knotted and Twisted String or Thread Work, called
Macramé
LXXXIII. Flounce
LXXXIV. Two Patterns of Bobbin-made Lace
LXXXV. Four Bobbin-made Laces (reduced in size)
LXXXVI. Four Bobbin-made Laces (reduced in size)
LXXXVII. Bobbin-made Lace
LXXXVIII. Five Bobbin-made Laces
LXXXIX. Six Specimens of Lace made before 1850
XC. Two Borders of Bobbin-made Lace à Brides
XCI. Flounce of Bobbin-made Lace à Brides, in which the Toilé is
well developed
XCII. Flounce of Bobbin-made Lace
XCIII. Lace as XCII., actual size
XCIV. Flounce of Bobbin-made Lace
XCV. Part of a Flounce for an Alb, of Bobbin-made Lace à Réseau
XCVI. Flounce for an Alb of Bobbin-made Lace à Réseau
XCVII. Two Borders of Bobbin-made Lace
XCVIII. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Edging
XCIX. Bobbin-made Lace à Réseau
C. Cap of Bobbin-made Lace, called Point de Flandre à Bride
Picotées
CI. Three Patterns of Bobbin-made Mechlin Lace
CII. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Mechlin Lace
CIII. Four Specimens of Bobbin-made Lace called Binche Lace
CIV. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Lace à Vrai Réseau de Bruxelles,
called Point D'Angleterre
CV. Lappet of Bobbin-made Lace, called Point D'Angleterre
CVI. Two Parts of a Border of Bobbin-made Lace, called Brussels
Point
CVII. (1) A Scarf
(2) A Cap
CVIII. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Lace, called Valenciennes Point
CIX. Four Borders of Bobbin-made Lace, called Valenciennes Lace,
with Square Mesh Réseau
CX. Border of Bobbin-made Lace, with a Point de Paris Réseau
CXI. Flounce for a Dress, of Bobbin-made Silk Lace
CXII. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Lace, with a réseau of Maglia di
Spagna
CXIII. Mantilla or Scarf of Bobbin-made Black Silk Lace
CXIV. Two Examples of Bobbin-made Insertions
CXV. Four Patterns of Italian Gold and Silver Bobbin-made Lace
CXVI. Two Lappets of Bobbin-made Black
CXVII. Two Borders of Bobbin-made Lace
CXVIII. Border, Cap, and Crown of Bobbin-made Lace
CXIX. Lappet of Bobbin-made Lace
CXX. Two Borders of Appliqué Lace, one with a vandyke edge and one
with a mitred or scalloped edge
INTRODUCTION
The idea of giving, by means of photography, full-sized reproductions of
my specimens of ancient needle and bobbin-made lace, originated from a
desire to avoid unfolding these delicate fabrics when my friends wished
to see them. By arranging carefully that several of the photographs
should give the exact size of each stitch of the work, seeing and
handling the originals have been rendered practically unnecessary.
Though many books on lace exist giving most valuable historic, artistic
and technical data, none with which I am acquainted give the practical
information I have found most desired, that is to say, full-sized
representations of the pieces of lace. I therefore think that such
reproductions of my specimens may have a wider interest than I had
originally imagined, and accordingly I have now prepared them for
general publication.
It is impossible to judge of lace from a mere picture of pretty and
artistic drapery, or from portraits of great personages wearing lace
collars or dress trimmings. Lace in pictures has, in the first place,
been interpreted by the painter, and no pencil or brush can show more
than the general effect. The stitches in the toilé, or ground of
needle-point lace, amount sometimes to several thousand in every square
inch; and the almost incredible fineness of the twists in the réseau of
pillow laces makes identification very difficult, unless it is founded
on observation of actual portions of the fabric. It can hardly be
contested that, apart from some generally accepted deductions as to
design and time of execution, the chief means of judging lace correctly
lies in studying the toilé or clothing, and the groundwork of meshes or
réseau. To assist in this, many of the examples of my lace in their
actual size, and in some cases greatly enlarged photographs, are given.
I have illustrated and described only fabrics which, if not in my
possession, have actually come under my observation, such as the two
ancient albs of Eastern design, which, although hitherto unnoticed by
Italian writers on lace, may, I think, claim to have formed a very
interesting link between the Coptic or Egypto-Roman design, and that of
the early Italian lace. To aid in a judgment on this point, I also
illustrate some designs from early Coptic tombs.
The pre-Reformation "Pyx Veil" of needle-point linen work or tela tirata
remains the property of the parish of Hessett in Suffolk. It is a
supremely interesting object and unique, as far as I know, in the way it
is worked. I therefore give two illustrations of it among the early
sixteenth-century linen laces.
The period to which I confine my treatment of this art prevents my
giving any account of the very successful and extensive revival of
lace-making which has taken place all over Europe during the last sixty
years. Italy, France, and Great Britain have already some hundreds of
lace centres, while, from Denmark to Madagascar, Sweden to Ceylon, I
have specimens of most excellent and praiseworthy industries. That
these, as well as the very beautiful fabrics made now by lace machines,
may prosper, must be the wish of all--and I believe that to study more
and more carefully the models of the past will be the secret of success.
I classify lace as needle-point and bobbin-point. Numerous varieties
occur in each, but I will only mention the three chief divisions I make
in each class.
The three chief kinds of needle-point, "Trine ad Ago," are:
1. Lacis (or Modano) and Buratto work. (_See_ Plates 8, 11, 17.) I
include also under Lacis those varieties which are called in
Italy Sfilature, as the ancient specimens are, I find, usually
worked on a foundation of knotted lacis. _See_ Plate 7.
2. Linen lace, comprising reticello work and tela tirata. _See_
Plates 14, 19, 25.
3. Punto in aria--of which all later needle-point laces are
varieties. _See_ Plates 31 and 32.
The three chief ways of making bobbin-lace, "Trine a fuselli," are:
1. A tape, sometimes plain, sometimes ornamented, is made on the
pillow. This tape is placed and arranged as wished and joined up
on the pillow, but it is not cut or finished off, but continues
to form the pattern until the lace is completed. _See_ Plates 83
and 84.
2. Complete sprays or patterns are made on the pillow and finished
off; these are afterwards joined by brides or by a réseau. _See_
Plates 90 and 91.
3. The bobbins first used, continue and complete both pattern and
ground of the whole length of the lace. _See_ Plate 97.
I here give a Glossary, the result of inquiries tabulated during a stay
in Italy some years ago. I cannot find any authoritative translation of
the technical terms used to describe ancient lace, so I give my
interpretations for what they are worth.
GLOSSARY
À JOURS or MODES _See_ Fillings.
ALB The long linen robe (worn under the chasuble
by priests at the altar) which is sometimes
enriched with a border of lace, as well as
with lace on the cuffs.
APPLIQUÉ When the ornamentation made separately is
fixed and sewn by hand to a complete ground
of bobbin or machine-made net.
ARGENTELLA A name given sometimes to lace made with
either fillings or a complete background of
the réseau called rosacé. This very pretty
work occurs in both Venetian and French
needle-point of the eighteenth century. (_See_
Plate 60.) But it is a mistake to use the
word as denoting a distinct make of lace.
AVORIO _Ivory._ _See_ PUNTI.
BOBBIN-MADE LACE _See_ PILLOW-LACE.
BONE POINT _See_ CORDONNET. This term was also applied
to early bobbin-made lace made in England
with bone bobbins.
BRIDES, or BARS Ties or loops between the edges of details,
forming the pattern, and connecting them
together. Brides are often adorned with
picots, or little knots, and are then called
brides picotées, when they have no picots
they are brides claires. Brides occur both in
needlepoint and in bobbin-made lace.
BUTTON-HOLE STITCH _See_ PUNTO A FESTONE.
BURATTO Lacis, with a twisted instead of a knotted
foundation.
CLOTHING _See also_ FOND and TOILÉ.
CORDONNET One or more threads used to outline or define
the forms composing patterns of lace. The
cordonnet in the heavier Venetian and Spanish
point is usually substantial and bold, and in
parts gradually swelling and diminishing to
form reliefs on the lace, which then suggests
an effect of carved bone or ivory. This gave
rise to one of the meanings of the term, bone
point. These relief portions were often enriched
by rows or tiers of picots. In Alençon
lace a horsehair instead of a stout thread was
sometimes used as a foundation for the cordonnet,
which was closely over-cast with
button-hole stitches.
COTTA The short white linen robe worn by servers
and at times by priests. This, like the alb,
is sometimes trimmed with lace.
FILET _See_ LACIS.
FILLINGS These are termed in French modes or à jours,
and are the ornamental work (made either
by needle or by bobbins) introduced into any
enclosed place in the toilé, or elsewhere in
the lace.
FOND _See also_ CLOTHING and TOILÉ. The word
fond, or foundation, denotes the close parts
in either needle-point or pillow lace, which
were made first, and then joined together by
bars or brides, or by a réseau. In some
laces the whole work proceeds concurrently.
FUSELLI Bobbins.
GROPPO A knot.
GUIPURE A term long used for any lace of a heavyish
texture made without réseau. It is now
often used for lace made with a tape, but
it applies more correctly, perhaps, to gimp
work.
IVORY STITCH Or PUNTO-AVORIO. So called because the
effect when closely worked makes a surface
like ivory, as it is quite without the slight rib
which shows in punto a festone, which is the
stitch usually found in the various punti in
aria. _See_ No. 6, Plate 8.
LACIS OR LASSIS Derived from Latin _laqueus_, a noose, in
English, Lace. A foundation of net, or filet,
with a pattern darned into it. The net for
the Italian lacis, called punto a maglia quadra,
as well as for the French filet or lacis, was
made very much as fish-nets are now
made; the darning-stitch was called punto
a rammendo.
In Buratto lacis, sometimes called punto
di Ragusa, the twisted network was made by
passing the foundation threads forwards and
backwards in a frame. (_See_ No. 3, Plate 8.)
The name Buratto comes from the sieves
made in this way in Italy for sifting grain
and meal.
MACRAMÉ Derived from the Arabic. It is a hand-made,
knotted fringe, called Moresco in Spain.
MAGLIA Mesh.
MEZZO PUNTO A description of lace in which the pattern
is formed with a braid or tape, and the brides
and fillings are of needle-point work. _See_
Plate 55.
MODANO A general name in Italy for lacis work with
square mesh.
MODES _See_ Fillings.
PICOTS Loops or knots added to brides, or, indeed,
to any part of the lace, for its enrichment.
PILLOW LACE Lace made with bobbins on a pillow; this
lace is called in Italian trine a fuselli, or
sometimes merletti a piombini, as in making
the coarser lace the workers attach pieces of
lead to the bobbins.
POINT LACE Strictly speaking, should always mean needle-made
lace, as the term is used too generally
in respect of either needle-made or pillow-made
lace to be of much value as a definition
without further qualification.
POINT DE NEIGE A name sometimes given to fine Venice
needle-point lace, with many small raised
flowers and clusters of picots--which give the
effect almost of snowflakes. _See_ Plate 50.
PUNTO A stitch.
PUNTI In the earliest needle-point lace-work on linen
or net the punti, or stitches, were as follows:
PUNTO A RAMMENDO (sometimes called PUNTO DI GENOA). Darning
or ladder stitch. This is the stitch used
in lacis work. _See_ enlarged stitch Nos. 1
and 3 of Plate 8.
PUNTO A STUORA Matting stitch. This stitch is used to make
the centres of geometrical patterns in lacis and
reticello work. It looks like the centre of a
round mat or basket. _See_ enlarged stitch,
No. 1, Plate 8.
PUNTO TAGLIATO Work on cut linen.
PUNTO A TELA Linen or cloth stitch.
PUNTO TIRATO Work on linen, which is begun by pulling
threads from the linen without cutting it.
_See_ TELA TIRATA, enlarged stitch, No. 5,
Plate 8.
PUNTO TRECCIA Or tress stitch--so called from the threads
of linen being left loose, and only caught here
and there by a few stitches, so looking like
a tress of hair. _See_ Plate 8, and top border
of No. 2, Plate 29. Treccia also means
plait.
Later stitches were:
PUNTO AVORIO _See_ IVORY STITCH, enlarged stitch, No. 6,
Plate 8.
PUNTO IN ARIA Needle-point lace worked without any foundation
of net or linen, hence the term, aria--in
the air. _See_ Plate 31.
PUNTO A FESTONE Buttonhole stitch: in French point noué.
The term "a festone" comes from festoon--a
garland hanging in a curve--the stitch being
often used when edging lace to form curves or
festoons round the edge or the patterns of
lace. The buttonhole or looped stitch is
used in constructing the toilé, or fond, and
also to cover the cordonnet and brides of
needle-point lace. Until the advent of the
réseau this stitch was almost the only one
used in Venetian needle-point. _See_ enlarged
lace Plate 49, and Plate 52.
PUNTO RICCIO Literally curled stitch: this is a variety of
punto scritto, but the name will easily be
understood on looking at the specimens--as
they are adorned with the tendril-like curls,
which gives the name to this stitch. _See_
No. 3, Plate 28.
PUNTO REALE This is really an embroiderer's stitch, and in
English called satin stitch; in linen lace it is
usually associated with punto tirato.
PUNTO IN RILIEVO Raised or rose stitch.
PUNTO SCRITTO Literally writing stitch, as this stitch is used
for marking names and generally for outlining
work. In English it would be called short
stitch.
QUADRO A square (as in punto a maglia quadra, or
square mesh net).
RÉSEAU Term used for what may be called the mesh
background of both needle and bobbin-made
lace. The réseau connects the toilé, or more
solid parts of the patterns together by filling
the spaces between them with fine meshes, the
make of which is very varied especially in the
pillow laces.
The two réseaux of Alençon needle-point
are shown in No. 1, Plate 9, and the réseau à
feston of Argentan is shown in No. 3, Plate 9,
the réseau of the Venice point à réseau in
No. 2, Plate 9. The needle-point réseau of
the Brussels lace is No. 4, Plate 9; and the
bobbin-made Brussels, now called vrai réseau,
is No. 5, Plate 9. The réseaux of the bobbin
laces are shown on Plate 10.
NO. 1 The maglia di Spagna, or Spanish mesh;
this was also much used for fine silk laces or
ruffles. _See_ Plate 112.
NO. 2 The réseau called sometimes point de Paris,
and also fond chant; it was used for Paris
pillow-made laces, as well as at Chantilly for
silk Blonde laces. It also occurs in pillow
laces from Italy and Flanders.
NO. 3 The réseau of early Valenciennes, called the
round réseau. _See_ Plate 108.
NO. 4 Réseau of Mechlin lace. In this two sides of
each mesh are of plaited threads, the other
four of twisted threads.
NO. 5 Réseau called cinq trous, characteristic of
much Flemish lace. _See_ Plates 99 and 100.
NO. 6 Réseau of later Valenciennes, called square
réseau, and of late years almost the only
réseau used in Yprès lace. _See_ Plate 109.
NO. 7 Réseau of Buckingham lace. This also
corresponds with the réseau used in Lille
and Arras pillow laces. _See_ Plate 107.
RETICELLO The word is derived from rete, a net, and is
usually descriptive of the patterns in which
repeated squares, with wheel or star devices
and such-like, depending upon the diagonals
of each square, are the prevailing features.
In needle-point lace these openwork patterns
are usually of buttonhole stitching. The
squares are partly cut out of the linen
material, the threads not cut are sewn over
with punto a rammendo forming a frame for
the rest of the work. (Plate 29.) The
reticello pattern is also carried out in early
bobbin-made lace. _See_ Plate 86.
ROSALINE A modern Italian name for the fine Venetian
point called point de neige. _See_ Plate 50.
ROSE-POINT Any needle-point with raised work on it.
This raised work may be sometimes suggestive
of recurrent blossoms, but the word
"rose" in this connection is technical, and
merely means raised.
SFILATURA Drawn thread work. A variety of lacis. _See_
No. 1, Plate 28.
TELA TIRATA Or drawn work. The linen is sometimes
"drawn," that is to say, threads of both warp
and woof are removed from the entire piece to
be worked, only leaving three or four threads
each way. The pattern is then darned in so
as to appear like the original linen. I believe
the identical threads drawn out are sometimes
used for this. The remaining threads are
then sewn over to form the background of
small squares. (_See_ No. 5, Plate 8.) A
second way is only to draw threads from the
background, cutting some of the cross threads,
and leaving the original linen to form the
pattern, as in No. 4, Plate 8.
TOILÉ Is the clothing, "fond," or closer texture in
the pattern of both needle- and bobbin-made
lace. Toilé is so called because it resembles
toile or linen. The various details of the toilé
in needle-point lace are usually outlined by a
buttonhole stitch cordonnet, or sometimes
merely by a single thread, and are then fitted
to each other to form a complete design.
This fitting together of the several parts is
well exemplified in No. 40, Venetian cut linen
lace, in which the fond is really of toilé, cut
and joined by brides. In all the other
specimens the toilé is wholly of needle-point
work. In the earlier needle-point laces brides
were used, but in later ones the whole background
usually consists of a réseau.
TOMBOLO Lace pillow.
TRINA Lace. TRINE AD AGO, needle-made laces;
TRINE A FUSELLI, bobbin-made laces--Italian
terms in present use.
SEVEN CENTURIES OF LACE
Many books giving patterns for lace-making were produced in the
sixteenth century, but few of them afford any technical instruction in
the art, and all assume that lace was already in demand throughout
Europe. We need not therefore take these interesting little books into
consideration in determining the antiquity of lace, although they are of
great assistance on the question of design, as they constantly show by
introducing the gammadion and other symbols, the survival of the
Oriental tradition.[A] This is also clearly shown in the numerous
specimens of embroideries and woven silks made in Sicily and Spain in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and preserved in our own and
Continental museums.
[A] Eyn neu Kunstlichbuch, &c. Metre piere quinty Cologne, 1527.
The earliest specimens of lace stitches in my possession are on pieces
of Coptic linen work from tombs of the third to the fifth century from
the collection of Mr. R. de Rustafjaell. The threads purposely left
loose in the weaving are held by punto a rammendo worked in white linen
thread. A background of coloured worsted is afterwards added,[B] (_See_
Plate 4.) It is interesting to compare the towel, NO. 1 in Plate 28,
which in my opinion has probably been worked in the same way, that is,
the weaver has omitted the woof threads, leaving only the warp threads
to be drawn together by needlework. The bobbin-lace found in the same
tomb is illustrated in Plate 5.
[B] Darning stitch exists in the British Museum on a piece of
material woven from flax, and found in an Egyptian tomb. And chain
stitch is seen on a fragment of Greek work of the fourth century,
B.C., at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
The first mention of lace-making in Europe that I know of is an old rule
of the thirteenth century for English nuns, cautioning them against
devoting too much time to lace and ornamental work to the detriment of
work for the poor.[C]
[C] "Ne makie none purses ... ne _laz_ bute leave, auh schepied, and
seouwed, and amended cherche clodes, and poure monne clodes."
"Do not make no purses ... nor _lace_, without leave, but shape and
sew, and mend, church-vestments and poor people's clothes."
"The Ancren Riwle" (The Nun's Rule), p. 420, h. A.D. 1210. Morton's
edition, Old English, 1853.
This _laz_ or lace was doubtless lacis. This lacis or network, now
called modano in Italy, was the earliest foundation for the work of
needle-made lace "trine ad ago." We find in the Appendix to Dugdale's
History of St. Paul's mention of work of "albo filo nodato" knotted
white thread. This was noted at a Visitation made in 1295.[D] But pieces
of this opus sfilatorium have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Early
specimens often have the gammadion or symbol of the cross. _See_ Plate
4.
[D] Dugdale, "St. Paul's," p. 316.
A roll of the possessions of the Templars after their suppression in
1312 includes an inventory of the goods of Temple Church. One item of
this is "one net which is called _Espinum_ to cover Lectern, 2_s._"[E]
We must look to the specimens existing from early times in Europe, and
to contemporary testimony, whether of painting or sculpture, to enable
us to fix the date of these interesting productions of human
industry--the early lacis and linen laces. Embroidery on silk, in which
many of the lace stitches were used, has a very early record.
[E] "Norfolk Archæology," vol. v. (Norwich 1859), p. 91.
Here we need only cite the many magnificent examples of embroidered
Church vestments, chasubles, copes, &c., so freely produced from the
thirteenth century onwards, of which the wonderful Dalmatic of the ninth
century in the Vatican Treasury, the Syon Cope of the thirteenth
century in the Victoria and Albert Museum, together with others, are to
this date in excellent and almost perfect condition.
Now, if we remember that albs and other linen vestments used at Mass
have been for centuries as necessary and important as the outer ones of
silk, it must be allowed that while such a wealth of decoration was
lavished on the latter, adornment of the former was not likely to have
been omitted. I am, therefore, of opinion that much of the lacis, tela
tirata, and reticello work generally ascribed to the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, may more correctly be considered to be earlier in
date. That few of such ancient specimens remain is no doubt due to the
linen thread being less durable than the silk and also to that arch
enemy of lace in all ages, the washerwoman. As silk and gold embroidery
could not be washed, it survived. All who have to care for Church
vestments at the present time know that albs and other linen objects for
Church use are comparatively short-lived, and it must be remembered that
lace in early times was chiefly made for Church purposes.
After consulting illuminated manuscripts of the eighth and ninth
centuries, I have come to the conclusion that there is in them strong
evidence of lacework having been employed to ornament the albs worn even
at those periods. St. Mark, in a Gospel (now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris) said to have been written for Charlemagne, wears an
alb which appears to me to be of this kind. Also in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris, is a twelfth-century Bible, called the Bible of St.
Martial, in which the Bishop is pictured wearing a highly ornamental alb
under his gothic-shaped chasuble. He grasps his pastoral staff in one
hand, and with the other he receives the precious Book.[F]
[F] Vol. viii., Plate 245, of Bastard's "Peintures et Ornements des
MSS." Paris, 1832-69.
On the question of design, as indicating the date of lacework, I am of
opinion that the early geometric character of primitive design was
sooner modified than is generally thought to be the case.
We find, for instance, in an eighth-century "Gospel" in the Bibliothèque
Nationale of Paris, a scroll ornament painted with vine leaves, grapes,
&c.
Why should not this have inspired a laceworker of the same period to
attempt a similar design? At a little later date a "Sacramentaire" has
most realistic flowers and leaves ornamenting the initials in the
Manuscript. These beautiful works of art were executed by religious
persons and monks, probably of the Benedictine Order. A great part of
the lace made at the same time was undoubtedly the work of nuns. What
more likely than that mutual assistance was given to carry out the
principal aim of both--the ornamentation and glory of the Sacred
Scriptures, and the services of the Church?
Many of the earlier albs are decorated with passemens or apparels, which
are squares or oblongs of ornamental work often enriched with gold
thread. These were sewn on the lower part of the front of the alb and on
the cuff of the sleeve. The alb preserved at the Cathedral of Sens, and
said to have been worn by St. Thomas of Canterbury, is ornamented in
this way. In some of the old books of patterns for lace, the
straight-edged laces are all called passemens, and only the pointed ones
dentelles, or pizzi.
Later the apparels gave place to ornament worked on the linen itself,
and often forming a continuous band of decoration more or less wide
round the edge. A tombstone on the floor of the church of St. Sabina in
Rome has a recumbent figure with an alb decorated with a band of this
kind. The inscription denotes that the figure represents a German abbot,
named Egidius Varnsprach; the date is 1312. Later still, lace of all
kinds was merely sewn on to the alb as a flounce, in the way usually
adopted at the present time.
As far as I am aware, only two complete albs of early linen lace exist.
They are both of very fine texture, the thread of the linen having been
spun with great care and the weaving very closely done. The oldest is
the alb, Plate 1, which is said to have been woven and ornamented by
St. Clare of Assisi and her nuns, and is still preserved in the
monastery of that place. The tradition is that it was worn by St.
Francis of Assisi. I was fortunately able to examine it closely and to
obtain details of the lacework, which is worked on the linen itself in
tela tirata and punto reale. Symbolic animals and chimeras are
introduced, but the polygonal character of the design is preserved
throughout, and establishes, I consider, its Coptic derivation.
To confirm this, I need only instance the fact that these, and other
earliest known specimens of lacis and linen lace existing, are almost
identical in design with the forms familiar to us from the discoveries
in Coptic tombs in Egypt from the first and third centuries onwards.
These designs, simple and formal as they appear, are really full of
meaning. Mr. Albert Gayet has pointed out, in his history of Coptic art,
that the law of polygonal evolution only completed in the eleventh
century the course it had steadfastly pursued from the beginning. He
continues: "It seems a far cry from the early Greek tradition to this
time. But the Coptic artist was never in sympathy with the Greek
striving towards realism. He wished to express, not the image itself,
but the impression conveyed by the image. He preferred the thought to
the concrete form. The divine idea, which to the Greek must mean a
precise representation, he prefers to render quite otherwise. The
fidelity of the Coptic artist to this polygony renders it the key to all
his art. His first efforts are blunders, but he is not discouraged, he
continues without hesitation to follow his ideal. He finds in the
philosophy of the polygon the impression he wishes to convey of the
ideal and the invisible. His composition, according to the Gnostic
definition, has its secret side, hidden under the emblem shown, while
the emblem shown has also a hidden side. Then by the superposition of
_entrelacs_, or strap-work, he conveys the idea of evolution, or things
(mysteries) turning and repeating themselves indefinitely, but always in
an inflexible circle." For example, a number of star-centred octagons,
formed by a network of lines, will have a cross in the centre--other
little crosses may be traced in each star--and in the arabesques of the
corners crosses may also be found. "Everywhere, even in the most closely
packed work, this symbol can be found; the most abstract geometrical
combinations are still subject to the same system. Polygony places
everywhere and always the sign of the Faith."[G]
[G] Gayet, A., "L'art Copte." Paris, 1902.
I must also make a quotation from the learned Dr. Rock, which, though
written nearly forty years ago, is so apposite while considering this
beautiful lacework from Assisi and its Eastern derivation.
Strengthening our idea that the old Egyptians had borrowed the cross as
a spell against evil, and a symbol of eternal life, is a passage set
forth by Rufinus, A.D. 397, and by Socrates B.C. 440.
"On demolishing at Alexandria a temple dedicated to Serapis, were
observed several stones sculptured with letters called hieroglyphics,
which showed the figures of a cross. Certain Gentile inhabitants of the
city who had lately been converted to the Christian faith, initiated in
the method of interpreting these enigmatic characters, declared that the
figure of the cross was considered as the symbol of future life."[H]
[H] "Hist. Eccles.," lib. v., c. 17.
"We know that modifications of the form of the cross have been found on
monuments already discovered; others may turn up with the so-called
'gammadion' found upon Egyptian stuff of such an early date. The
recurrence of the gammadion upon Christian monuments is curious. It is
shown in the catacombs, and in numerous later instances. Christianity
widened the meaning of this symbol and made it teach the doctrine of the
Atonement of Calvary, and that Christ is our corner-stone. In the
thirteenth century it was taken to be an apt memorial of His five wounds
and, remembering the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi, this gammadion
became the favourite device of such as bore that Saint's name."[I]
[I] Dr. Rock, "Introduction to Textile Fabrics at South Kensington
Museum" (Chapman and Hall, 1870), p. cxxxix.
No less than twenty varieties of these polygonal ornaments, many of them
introducing the gammadion, are to be found in the lacework of the Assisi
alb. _See_ Plate 3.
The tradition mentioned by Dr. Rock of the device of the gammadion being
identified with St. Francis may, I think, have originated in the
circumstance of his having worn this alb. In Plate 6 I give two examples
of early Italian punto reale of the same kind although very inferior in
variety and in workmanship, but in most of these early "cartiglia," as
this work is called in Italy, the polygonal idea is still predominant.
The other complete alb is also of linen lace, and is said to have been
worn by Pope Boniface VIII. in 1298. (_See_ Plate 2.) It is preserved in
the Treasury of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where I had an
opportunity of examining it closely and of obtaining the technical
details I give. As to its possible history I may note that St. Nilos and
his monks were driven from the East by the Saracens at the end of the
tenth century, and came to Italy, where they were welcomed by Pope
Gregory V. He established them in the monastery a few miles from Rome,
where their successors still worship with their Eastern rites. The
famous alb may have been brought by these very monks or those who
followed them from the East.[J]
[J] "The Pope, Gregory V. (996-999), and the Western Emperor, Otho
III. (993-1002), who was then also at Rome, went out to meet the
strangers beyond the walls, and received them with all possible
honour and respect. And out there in the Campagna, at Grottaferrata,
St. Nilos at last built a home for his monks, and there he died.
Grottaferrata has stood unchanged till now, no Pope has tried to
destroy or Latinise it; after ten centuries, its monks sing out
their Greek office in the very heart of the Latin Patriarchate,
while outside the Latin olives shelter its Byzantine walls."--"The
Orthodox Eastern Church," Adrian Fortescue, D.D. London, 1907.
Then, as now, specimens of the world's treasures of art and handicraft
arrived in Rome from all parts of the known world. I see no difficulty
in recognising the antiquity of this alb. That the great Pope Boniface
VIII. wore it is only a tradition, and no evidence is afforded or
vouched for by the authorities at the Vatican. One evidence of its
origin should not be overlooked which is the material, which I believe
to be the real Byssus, or fine handspun linen from the plant _Linum
usitatissimum_ not at that time available in Europe. Dr. Bock remarks
that this Byssus was much sought for in early Christian times under the
name of Byssus of Alexandria.[K] The linen of the Assisi alb is of the
same texture, which I can only describe as crisp and wiry,
notwithstanding that in many parts it is much worn; on handling the
linen it reminded one at once of the linen of Egyptian mummy cloths, and
the Italian curators of both albs, while I must say profoundly
indifferent as to the questions of design and execution, which
interested me most, were all quite certain that they had known no linen
texture resembling it in Italy. It was impossible not to call to mind in
this connection, "Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that
which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail."[L] The linen of the alb of
Pope Boniface is slightly finer than that of the Assisi alb, and is
heavily worked with lace ornaments of an Eastern character. The repeated
geometrical patterns, or rosettes symmetrically grouped in squares, are
worked by the needle in punto a rammendo (_see_ Plate 3), and the
curious stitch called punto treccia, or tress-work, is introduced, as
well as the punto a stuora, or matting stitch. It may be observed that
in such early lacework the punto a festone, or buttonhole stitch, is
never, or very rarely found, though afterwards it became almost the only
stitch used in all needle-point, until the advent of the réseau.
[K] Dr. Franz Bock, "Die textilen Byssus," Aachen, 1895.
[L] Ezechiel, xxvii. 7.
In the alb of Pope Boniface there is no buttonhole stitch--the ornaments
in squares called quadri were inserted in the linen of the alb, and were
surrounded by rows of punto tirato worked in the linen itself. The
flounce and insertions, or "falsature," of pillow-made lace were
evidently added at a later date.
It is interesting to see in the fresco by Giotto (1276-1337), preserved
in St. John Lateran, that Pope Boniface VIII. is supported by two
ecclesiastics, one of whom is wearing an alb with what appears to be
lace on the sleeve.
The tomb of the same pope, and of others of about the same date, afford
still more cogent evidence. In the Crypt of St. Peter's, Rome, Pope
Boniface VIII. is represented in full pontifical vestments lying on a
bier which is draped with a richly ornamental pall; this is raised to
show a linen cloth with a border of reticello work in what is termed by
a learned writer "the well-known geometrical design of the thirteenth
century." The Pope wears an alb with an ornamental border which is
repeated on the sleeves.
The fact is, of course, acknowledged that linen cloth was used for
bed-linen, towels, and other articles. For albs, linen, and linen only,
was ordered by the rubric; therefore, if one sees an alb represented,
whether by painting or sculpture, the intention to represent linen is
implied. And, if ornamented, the intention to represent linen lace is
clear in many instances, although the painter or sculptor cannot, of
course, give us a facsimile as satisfying as the photographs we have
here.
I will here refer to the well-known pictures by Giotto and his school.
One in the Louvre, of the birth of St. John the Baptist, has most
unmistakable lacework on the linen of the bed, and on the long towel
gracefully depicted as hanging from the shoulder of one of the
attendants.
A fresco, also by Giotto, in the Basilica of Assisi, represents the
figure of the Divine Infant in a shirt with reticello ornament.
Duccio di Buoninsegna (1260-1340) and Lorenzetti (1276-1348) may be
mentioned among many others, as in their paintings linen cloths are
rendered with unmistakable needle-point ornament. It is quite clear that
these laces were in general use before the fourteenth century, although
it is not surprising that few specimens remain to us.
The pattern of the lacis, or sfilatura, in Plate No. 7, is geometrical,
with an Eastern tendency, as in Pope Boniface's alb. It is singularly
like the dresses of saints in some of the Ravenna mosaics, and the more
ancient stitches can be seen in the specimen given, but there is no
buttonhole stitch.
In describing the design of this piece of old lacis, I am again tempted
to quote M. Gayet's description of lace found in the Coptic tomb. He
says: "It is lace as it is made to-day. All the threads of the réseau
are drawn together to one point, and the meshes start from the centre
like rays crossing and recrossing and thus forming various patterns."
The pieces of network from these Coptic tombs, preserved in the Victoria
and Albert Museum fully justify this description, and no doubt the
Eastern tradition can be traced in Plate 7.
As we have seen, the ornament of the earliest laces was simple, or
quasi-simple, in design; but even then the craving to represent life
often appears. The band down the front of the Assisi alb, for example,
has a row of stags thoroughly subservient to the distinctly polygonal
idea.
In Plate 11 a portion of an early lacis or modano border is represented.
Conventional peacocks and numerous smaller birds are added to the
central design of I.H.S. in Gothic letters--quaint little angels are at
the ends of some of the rays. The inscription has so far found no
interpreter.
The altar-cloth in Plate 12 may possibly have been made for Richard II.;
his two wives were both French, and this piece has the stag, which was
the royal device.
No. 1 of Plate 13 is an interesting border of Sicilian lacis, the design
Eastern, introducing the gammadion, the netting is all made obliquely.
Two stitches are used for the pattern, the punto a rammendo and also the
punto scritto. A vandyked border of punto avorio is added.
In Plate 14 the squares of lacis or modano are alternated with linen
worked with reticello. The design in each square is different.
The effect of the gold thread added to the pattern worked in punto a
tela, or linen-stitch, in Plate 15, is very good, and there is much
variety in the execution of this piece.
No. 1 of Plate 16 is lacis of possibly German work with a design of
vine-leaves and grapes worked in punto a tela. No. 2 is a vandyked
border of English lacis with a pattern of large and small blossoms--the
larger ones resemble Tudor roses. Both these pieces have the punto
riccio introduced.
Plate 17 is a specimen of lacis called buratto in Italy, as the netting
is twisted and not knotted. The pattern is punto a rammendo, worked with
very coarse thread, but the result is satisfactory. This piece must be
early sixteenth-century work.
The two examples of buratto work in the following plate, Plate 18, are
much more finely worked with punto a rammendo. The narrow border is
probably the earliest.
Alençon has certainly more romantic associations than any other
lace-producing town. For the making of lace at Alençon did not begin
only with the establishment of that industry in 1660, of which I shall
speak later. More than a century before that date Marguérite
d'Angoulême, Duchess of Alençon, and afterwards Queen of Navarre, while
living at her castle of Alençon, worked and caused to be worked,
beautiful ornaments for albs and other articles for use at the altar of
St. Leonard's, her parish church. Some of these are preserved in the
Alençon Museum; a specimen of early lacis is especially interesting,
worked in squares with radiating threads, and the centres worked with
punto a stuora as in Plate 17. The specimen of lacis, with gold thread
introduced similar to that in Plate 15, may very likely be the very
piece alluded to by Clément Marot in his odes to Queen Marguérite. She
died in 1549.
"Elle adonnait son courage
A faire maint bel ouvrage
Dessus la toile et encore a
Joindre la soie et or."
"Vous d'un pareil exercice
Mariez par artifice
Dessus la toile a maint tract
L'or et la soie en pourtract."
Another interesting record of this Queen is to be found in a manuscript
of the expenses of "Madame Marguérite," sister of the King (Francis I.).
"For 60 yards fine Florence lace for her collars."[M] This lace was
probably fine punto in aria worked in points, as in Plate 30, but it
may, of course, also have been bobbin-made lace similar to the edging in
Plate 29.
[M] Manuscript in "Bibliothèque Nationale." MS. FF2, 10,394.
The earliest example of tela tirata here is a piece representing St.
Francis of Assisi and events of his life, Plate 19. Under the saint's
feet is an inscription imperfectly rendered by the pious worker. St.
Michael is above, and still higher is the Madonna and many emblems or
perhaps fancies of the worker. This lace may have been worked in Assisi
itself in the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
Another early specimen has a man in armour with a helmet of
thirteenth-century shape. _See_ Plate 20.
Another piece, Plate 21, which is very fine and was no doubt worked for
a wedding, represents a bride and bridegroom standing dressed in
sixteenth-century costume and surrounded by attendants. Below is a
hawking party with dogs.
The infant's swaddling band, Plate 22, is interesting, as these bands
are no longer ornamented.
The specimen of tela tirata No. 1, in Plate 25, is of singular make, the
whole piece to be worked being prepared by drawing threads at regular
intervals. These same threads are then darned in with a needle to form
the pattern. In this specimen a small piece has been unpicked to show
the way the threads were drawn before beginning the work. This method
has, I believe, not hitherto been noticed, as the plan of cutting
threads and leaving the pattern in the linen is more usual; but, of
course, no cut threads at all remaining in the work rendered it more
even and durable, and so justified the extra trouble.
No. 2 of Plate 25, is a piece of tela tirata with punto reale similar,
though coarser in make, to the work on the Assisi alb.
Three specimens of sixteenth-century linen work, Plate 28, are reduced
in size; one is on a huckaback with a fine macramé fringe. The drawn
work of this piece is beautifully done. The cloth in the centre is
worked in punto riccio and has a border of punto avorio and a curious
fringe. The third is cut and worked in punto riccio and reticello, and
has a border of bobbin-made lace.
In Plate 29 we have two examples of reticello, the linen almost entirely
cut away and hidden by the different stitches. The punto a stuora is
still used for the centres, as we have seen in the earlier laces, and
the punto a festone appears for the first time. In the second example we
have a curious combination of three laces--an upper border worked almost
exactly like the very early lace of Plate 7; then comes an insertion of
reticello, and finally a border of Venetian bobbin-lace (merletto a
fuselli). This is early fifteenth-century work.
We now come to the third division made in needle-point lace--the punto
in aria, which may be said to be the starting-point of all subsequent
needle-point laces. No linen or netting being used the worker had to
construct her lace--in aria--out of nothing, and a splendid opening it
gave, as we shall now see, for invention and for execution. This punto
in aria, worked into points, was extensively used for personal
adornment: these points gave the name of pizzi to lace, a name which
still survives in Italy as comprehensive of all lace, as the name
dentelle is in France. The first examples I give here are the two
dentated (or vandyked) borders of Plate 31.
The chalice cover, Plate 32, is a very interesting combination of
reticello and punto in aria; the lines of the cut-linen foundation are
carried across and form a lattice behind the punto in aria devices. The
beautifully worked waved pattern circling round the design may be
intended to represent St. Peter's chains: the Saint stands with the
Scriptures in one hand and the Keys in the other, and has a winged
cherub on each side; the edge is of punto in aria.
The reticello pattern of Plate 33 is beautifully rendered in punto
avorio and punto in aria. This piece, unlike the specimens given before,
has no linen foundation, and therefore is classed as punto in aria and
not as reticello or cutwork.
The corporal border of Plate 34, of very conventional floral pattern is,
I think, undoubtedly of German early seventeenth-century work.
The border of the Venetian cloth in Plate 35, is a very fine specimen of
punto in aria. The two insertions, of which one is given, are alike.
They have strange winged and tailed animals alternating with scrolls and
vases. The vandyked border is a wonderful piece of work containing
altogether forty-eight small figures, and, as is often the case in
Venetian work, the figures, birds and animals have tiny black glass
beads for eyes. The animals have loops of fine buttonhole stitch to
denote manes.
A very interesting and beautiful piece of punto in aria is Plate 36. The
design is still reminiscent of the East; the flowing interlaced
flower-stems, with animals introduced, have quite a Persian effect. But
the beautiful rendering of the pendant flowers, and the true love knots,
as well as the heraldic device of the Visconti (the crowned serpent)
mark the elegance and freedom of the Renaissance. It was, no doubt, made
in Venice in the late sixteenth century.
The punto in aria trimming for the neck of an alb, Plate 37, is a very
remarkable piece, and the execution full of interest. The work is
entirely without foundation. The figures are clothed with mantles of
very beautifully worked network, called in Italy mezza mandolina. The
edges of the mantles are worked in punto avorio. Realism is attempted by
representing the features in relief, and little black beads are added to
the eyes.
A curious border of the Venetian rose-point is No. 1, Plate 38, worked
entirely in punto a festone. Birds and serpents occur, and the thick
cordonnet which outlines the pattern is also used to denote the scales
of the serpents and the feathers of the birds, tiny black beads mark the
eyes as in Plate 37. The edging is of very fine punto avorio. A specimen
of the so-called coraline Venice needle-point is also on this Plate.
In Plate 39 we have a very interesting specimen of needle-point as
applied to personal use--a lady's camisia, or shirt, of the sixteenth
century. The linen has a square hole cut for the head, and this opening
is beautifully worked in punto in aria. The sleeves are ornamental with
oblique bands of cut-work, and the seams everywhere worked with drawn
stitches and insertions of punto avorio. The handwoven linen is in good
condition, although the garment must have been much worn, as the cuffs
have been replaced by bobbin-made frills, trine a fuselli. It is
doubtful whether three hundred years hence any linen garment worn at the
present time will survive.
From the beginning of the sixteenth century the fashion began of
working portions of the lace separately, and joining them together by
brides, and modes or fillings were also introduced, into the pattern.
Later, from about 1630, the réseau ground was introduced, covering the
whole space between the patterns; the patterns themselves also changed,
and from being geometric and conventional became more and more
realistic. The stately lace of Venice, however, may be said to have
always preserved its conventional tradition, whether in the heavy rose
or raised point or the delicate point à réseau.
Venice obtained her pre-eminence of lace-making in the sixteenth
century. The flat point is probably the earliest distinctive lace; but
this was soon enriched by work upon work, stitch upon stitch, which gave
the name of rose-point or punto in rilievo. The characteristic ornament
in the heavy so-called gros point de Venise consists of conventional
blossoms like leaves and scrolls treated as though carved in ivory or
bone, and to it applies the title of punto tagliato a fogliami. The
brides are sometimes quite plain, but later are adorned with picots.
We now come to the period when lace, so long only made for church
purposes, was very extensively made and used by lay persons for their
personal adornment, and for furnishing purposes. The bed cover Plate 40
was, no doubt, one of many made for a household of simple tastes; the
coarse linen is cut into a fine flowing pattern edged with buttonhole
stitch, and ornamented with various fillings. But in houses of greater
pretension the use of the richest rose-point became lavish, not only on
the dress of the mistress, the collar of the master, but on table covers
and hangings of every kind. Examples of this splendid lace are given in
No. 42 and following plates. No. 44 has, perhaps, the finest toilé; but
the design of No. 45 is very beautiful. No. 46 is a flounce for an alb
of very fine scroll design with brides picotées and occasional raised
work; the beauty of the pattern is better seen in the enlargement, Plate
47. The paten cover, No. 48, and the enlargement of it, No. 49, give a
complete idea of the style and execution of this lace.
The design of the flounce, No. 51, is of the style usually associated
with point de France, the stitches and brides picotées are identical in
workmanship with the Venetian point. It was probably made at Alençon,
Sedan, or one of the other lace-making centres which were started upon
the importation of Venetian laceworkers into France after the middle of
the seventeenth century.
The specimens of Spanish rose-point, Nos. 53 and 54, show the stately
and elaborate design, rather overloaded with ornament, which is
characteristic of this lace.
The Venetian point à réseau was made from about 1650 in Venice and
Burano. The cap shown in No. 56 has a beautiful flowing design of a
scroll with flowers and leaves, and brides connecting some portions of
the design. The main ground is of small mesh réseau worked the length of
the lace, which is often the case in Venetian work, though I have never
seen it in Alençon lace, the réseau being, as far as I know, usually
worked across the lace by the early French workers. (Later, the réseau
of the Alençon lace was worked obliquely, as can be seen by examining
Plate 67, and the specimens I have seen of modern Alençon are also
worked in this way.)
Plates 59 and 60 show interesting specimens of this very rare Venetian
lace. No. 2, in the latter plate, is probably a specimen worked in
France.
The ground of No. 59 is of brides picotées arranged into hexagonal
meshes, a ground which is chiefly associated with the point de France,
and this specimen was no doubt from Alençon.
About 1660 important centres of lace-making were developed and
subsidised in France by the Government at Alençon, Paris, Sedan, and
other places, and the French needle-point then made was scarcely to be
distinguished from the Venetian. This was to be expected, as the first
workers of lace of this kind in France were imported from Venice. In a
letter to Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., dated 1665, Catherine de
Marcq writes, "I am starting for Alençon with four Venetian lace
workers."[N]
[N] Bibliothèque Nationale, "Lettres à Colbert," vol. 132, fo. 14
bis.
As our King Charles II. revived his father's edict against foreign lace
at about the same time (1662), it would almost seem a concerted action
to check the Italian and Flemish superiority in the fabrication of the
finest lace, whether needle- or bobbin-made. But although the French
were successful in part in rivalling the Venetian needle-point, the
finest bobbin-lace of Flanders was never approached by the English
workers, and now, of course, can never be equalled, as the secret of the
thread used in the finest laces, such as Angleterre, Binche, etc., is
lost.
Nothing was too ambitious for the Venetian or French designers of the
seventeenth century. Coats of arms under canopies, scriptural or
classical figures, wreaths and vases of flowers, were frequently worked
into the same design for a piece of lace. The subsequent changes of
design which took place in the Alençon lace are most interesting to
note, the patterns gradually losing their Venetian character. In No. 61
vases and pots of flowers are introduced, and the floral patterns of the
specimens which follow become more and more realistic in drawing.
Towards the end of the reign of Louis XVI. enormous quantities of lace
were required for the new fashion of frills and flounces, and the change
in design is much marked by the adoption of borders of very light
effect, the réseau ground being spotted with little sprigs, slender
riband devices, and dots or pois, whence the term semé de larmes. (_See_
Plate 66.) In the numerous specimens shown, the changing fashion can be
marked, until in Plates 64 to 67 the Venetian character of the designs
of Alençon needle-point has quite disappeared. The patterns are
practically designed for borders only; and the réseau is, as I have
said, spotted with tiny sprigs, or dots. The expression semé de larmes
is said to have arisen in allusion to the misfortunes of Queen Marie
Antoinette, by whom much lace of this style was worn.
In needle-point made at Argentan we find a style and design such as we
should expect from its close neighbourhood to Alençon. The sole
peculiarity of the Argentan workers was that, not content with the
almost incredible toil involved in the lace of Alençon, they actually
worked the whole réseau of their lace over in buttonhole stitch, thus
making those compactly stitched hexagonal meshes which are distinctive
of this wonderful fabric. The Argentan réseau was sometimes introduced
into lace made at Alençon and elsewhere. The specimens, Nos. 68 and 69,
are representative of this rare lace.
The two specimens--one of silk and one of linen thread, Nos. 1 to 2,
Plate 70--I consider to be Portuguese, from the curious though rather
handsome and effective jumble of design which is often found in Spanish
and Portuguese work.
The Brussels needle-point of No. 3, Plate 70, and Plate 71 and Plate 72,
must seem poor and thin when compared to the preceding laces. But it is
very beautiful in its own delicate style, and has been called the
laciest of laces. The réseau is very fragile, hence the name sometimes
given of point de gaze. The designs shown have not the complete realism
aimed at in the Brussels lace of the present day, but have a charm of
their own which I confess attracts me more than all the brilliant
improvements of the last sixty years.
The two specimens of darned work on bobbin net, Plates 73 and 74,
especially the latter, are remarkable for the beauty and variety of the
work.
Plate 75 and Plate 76 have specimens of the beautiful and intricate work
called Tönder muslin lace made in Denmark in the eighteenth
century. The following, Plate 77, is lace of the same kind but made in
South Germany. I obtained these pieces in Leipzig forty years ago.
Number 2, in Plate 76, has a design and fillings which almost recall
those in the finest Alençon laces of the late seventeenth century.
Plate 78 has four specimens of eighteenth-century Dutch linen lace made
for caps; it is called Gouda lace; the fillings are very well
done.
In the Manila fibre lace, Plate 79, No. 1, the ground is entirely worked
over by the needle into small squares, giving the appearance of network.
This is done in the same way as the earlier tela tirata, the threads
drawn together and sewn with wonderful regularity, without any thread
being cut.
The two specimens of needle-point, Plate 79, Nos. 2 and 3, made entirely
of human hair, are rather difficult to render in a photograph. They are
evidently copied from Venetian patterns, and the various shades of hair
used have a very pretty effect, while the execution of such fine work in
so fragile a material must have demanded extreme skill and deftness of
hand. They were made about 1800, at the Bar Convent, York.
A very interesting piece of old English needle-point work is No. 80, a
cap of Holy, or Hollie, work. A close réseau is worked by using a stitch
very similar to buttonhole stitch, and the effect is of a texture very
like the cambric it adorns. The pattern is made by missing stitches,
forming small holes.
Hollie lace was chiefly used to decorate infants' caps, etc., for
baptism, and the pot with flower, reminiscent of the Annunciation, the
Holy Dove, etc., were devices frequently introduced into the patterns.
Collars of this work are mentioned in Queen Mary Stuart's inventories.
Number 2, Plate 80, is a specimen of Limerick run lace.
Three pieces of Irish needle-lace, Nos. 1 and 2 of Plate 81, are
praiseworthy as very early specimens of this industry. The designs are
nondescript, but many of the stitches are well executed. A bobbin-made
tape is introduced in No. 1. No. 3 is the so-called Carrickmacross lace;
a muslin and machine net foundation is neatly outlined by fine whipped
stitches; and buttonhole-stitch brides picotées are used to join the
patterns after the background is cut away. This lace was first made
after the famine of 1846.
BOBBIN-MADE LACE
The earliest bobbin lace was made by using the same threads for the
whole of the lace, thus, when the pattern had been pricked out and the
requisite number of bobbins charged with thread, the plaiting and
twisting the threads into lace was begun.
The starlike effect in the old Malta laces was very simply made by
taking fourteen bobbins to work a strip of the required length; this was
then joined up as required into a pattern of more or less regular and
starlike form, partly, no doubt, to imitate the older geometric designs.
The same bobbins were used throughout. _See_ Plate 83.
The same style of making is more beautifully carried out in the two
patterns of Plate 84. The lace in No. 1 is unfortunately very much worn,
but the way the bobbin-made strip is arranged to make flowerlike forms
is very ingenious; the ground is completely covered and yet nothing is
awkward or crowded. No. 2 is also a very fine example of this simple
bobbin work. I consider both to be early Venetian.
Number 1 of Plate 85 is a typical pattern of the lace which, originally
no doubt inspired by the East has become universal under the name of
"peasant" lace. We find it in Russia, Hungary, Dalmatia, Spain, Sicily,
Sardinia, in fact wherever lace was made at all, this pattern with
slight variations is supreme. Ceylon and India produce very similar
lace, as also does South America. I have therefore made no special
reference to these peasant laces, as although quite satisfactory from
the point of view of utility, they are only otherwise interesting as the
product of an industry much to be encouraged.
Numbers 2, 3 and 4, on Plate 85, may be considered as showing a
transition state, as in all three there is an attempt to add a
background to the toile or tapelike pattern.
Number 4 is a specimen of old Maltese lace now no longer made.
Number 1 in Plate 86 is of reticello pattern and a very successful
imitation of the needle-point linen lace.
Number 2 is a fine example of the same style worked into points or
pizzi, and is probably Venetian.
Numbers 3, 4 and 5, are examples of Genoese plaited lace.
Number 5 is especially notable as recalling the Eastern tradition.
Plate 87 shows two specimens of Genoese lace. No. 2 is what is sometimes
called collar lace, and sometimes Vandyke lace, from the very general
use of it in portraits by that great painter. No. 1 is Genoese fringed
lace. In both the starlike groups of little "grains of corn," as they
are called, are characteristic of Genoese lace, as they are now
considered to be of Maltese. But the Genoese patterns were only
introduced into Malta and Gozo about sixty or seventy years ago. One can
but be glad of the success of an industry so profitable to the
industrious peasantry of those islands, but it is impossible not to
regret the total disappearance of the old style of lace-making. The old
patterns are not in demand for the modern market, which is chiefly
French, and the lace is principally made with silk imported from France.
I find that it is often supposed that no specimens exist of ancient
Maltese lace. It is, however, well known there that lace was made in
Malta and Gozo at all events as early as about 1640. The early flounce
(Plate 80) was bought in Valetta more than fifty years ago, and
inquiries made convince me that it was made, as my Maltese informant
expressed it, "before the time of Lascaris." The Maltese often use the
expression "time of Lascaris" or of "Carafa," "Manoel," etc., to date
anything. These were the names of different Grand Masters before the
islanders invited English occupation in 1800. There is no doubt that the
disturbance caused by the French occupation affected lace-making so that
it fell into abeyance, but before that time great quantities of these
simple, strong and useful laces were made, principally, of course for
church use. The narrower edgings (Plate 98) were used for the fine white
lawn head-dresses worn with the beautiful national gala dresses, now
only preserved by the great Maltese families as relics of the past.
Number 1, Plate 88, is a very curious early pattern called gotico in
Italy.
Numbers 2 and 3 are Sicilian peasant laces.
Number 4, Tuscan peasant lace called piedi di gallini (fowls' feet).
Number 5 is a Tuscan peasant lace called zeccatello.
Plate 89 illustrates six peasant laces from Russia, Madeira, Portugal,
Ceylon, and Le Puy, made before 1850.
In the Genoese laces in Plates 90 and 91 we have examples of what may be
called the second manner of bobbin lace. The patterns of conventional
sprays and flowers are made on the pillow separately, and afterwards
joined by brides picotées, also bobbin-made. In the lace made in this
second manner, in which many laces were made at successive periods in
Milan, Genoa, Brussels and Honiton, the threads forming the connecting
brides, and later the réseau, can be detected by looking on the reverse
of the lace, as they are seen passing behind the patterns. An example of
this carrying threads across is shown in the Honiton lace, Plate 118.
Plate 92 represents one of the finest examples I have seen of Genoese
bobbin lace, trine a fuselli. The design is of gracefully arranged
scrolls and flowers, and includes five birds which are introduced in the
most spirited manner. The several tapey shapes, made separately and
joined by brides, form the complete design or pattern, the fillings
between them are very good, and include the starlike work characteristic
of Genoa. This illustration is on a reduced scale in order to show the
pattern of the lace. Plate 93 represents the exact size of the same
lace.
Plate 94 is a flounce of Milanese bobbin lace, trine a fuselli. The
pattern is of scrolls and flowers, a heraldic crowned eagle and small
birds, with various fillings in the spaces enclosed. A very strong
réseau connects the whole.
Plate 95, a flounce of the same lace, has a very beautiful flowing
design of scrolls, with a background of the characteristic réseau of
Milanese work.
The Milanese alb flounce (Plate 96) is a very fine piece of much later
date. The spaces enclosed by the toilé or tapey parts are filled by
bobbin-made fillings or à jours, of various designs, a very strong and
evenly made réseau connects the whole.
The two specimens of Italian lace, Plate 97, are of very elegant design;
they also have the fond chant pattern of réseau. This style of lace was
made both in North and South Italy up to sixty or seventy years ago, but
coarser thread was then introduced with disastrous effect.
In the narrow Maltese lace of Plate 98 we have in No. 1 the réseau
called mariage; this lace, and Nos. 2 and 3, were made in Malta about
1780.
Turning now to the bobbin-made lace of Flanders, I begin with No. 1 on
Plate 99, which has no less than three characteristic lengths joined to
form one border. The straight edge, the rather abrupt design, and the
réseau cinq trous, indicate a Flemish make of lace. The pattern No. 2
has the clear whiter thread outline. This lace is sometimes called
Trolle Kant.
The cap, Plate 100, is of later date; the réseau cinq trous, worked with
a very opened out effect, can be observed in the fillings.
The early Mechlin lace resembles in design the point d'Angleterre, and,
indeed, also the Alençon lace of the same date. It is most interesting
to compare, say, the Mechlin, Plate 101, with the d'Angleterre, Plate
104, and the Venise à réseau of Plate 57. Yet the makings of the three
laces are absolutely different--the Venice entirely by needle; the
Angleterre is made in two different stages of bobbin work; the Mechlin,
as is always the case, was made in the third manner, the threads
originally started on the bobbins carrying the work to a finish, and
ingeniously sufficing for toilé, réseau, and fillings. Later, Mechlin,
for reasons already stated, became a mere border, as shown in Plate 102.
It is no longer made. This is also the case with Binche lace (Plate
103). A very beautiful fond de neige, used sometimes as a ground and
sometimes as a filling or à jours, distinguishes this lace. The work is
very fine and close, the edge is usually straight. It is sometimes
called fausses Valenciennes.
Brussels gives its name to a variety of beautiful laces. The most
renowned is the point d'Angleterre, made in great quantities during the
later part of the seventeenth century for the English market. The
designs, as on Plate 104, recall those of the Venise à réseau and of
Alençon of the same period; the beautiful flowing garlands, the waved
edge with varied fillings, the brides picotées forming the hexagonal
réseau, will bear comparison with the Venice lace of Plate 57, and the
Alençon of Plate 63. This truly wonderful point d'Angleterre has a very
fine toilé; the flowers and scrolls were first made on the pillow and
then joined by the réseau (vrai Bruxelles), long used for the highest
class of all Brussels bobbin-made laces. Lace of this fineness is no
longer made since the fine handspun thread cannot be obtained.
Brussels lace followed the fashion which, as we have seen, obtained in
France. In the late eighteenth century only a border was necessary, as
lace was worn in a profusion of flounces and frills; and Plate 106 shows
a border very similar in design to the Alençon of the same date. The
delicate flowers and leaves are joined by the fine réseau mentioned
above--namely Brussels vrai réseau, a title employed to distinguish it
from machine-made net. This last was introduced during the first quarter
of the nineteenth century, and soon gave a different character to
Brussels lace, when the flowers made on the pillow were sewn (appliqué)
to a simple net made sometimes by hand, but more often by machine.
In the Antwerp lace scarf, No. 1, Plate 107, the fond chant or point de
Paris réseau is used, and here we have an example of Potten Kant, or pot
lace, so-called because in early times the subject of the Annunciation,
with the pots of lilies usually added, was introduced into the designs
for it. The indication of flower-pots certainly occurs in many pieces,
though not in mine, and no piece exists, as far as I know, with figures.
The cap of Lille lace, No. 2, Plate 107, has the simple twisted thread
réseau characteristic of this and of Arras lace. It is not to be
distinguished from the réseau often used in Buckingham lace.
We must again notice how similar the design in the fine old Valenciennes
of Plate 108 is to that of Alençon needle-point of the same date. The
réseau is closely plaited, and the toilé of the beautiful patterns
compact and clear in definition. No outline or cordonnet is used in
Valenciennes lace. The early lace has what is called the round réseau,
the later Valenciennes made at Yprès has a square réseau (Plate 109).
This latter lace is still made, but has not the charm of the
eighteenth-century lace.
The lace (Plate 110) was probably made in Paris. It is very curious,
with heraldic device of an eagle with a shield; dogs also, and stags,
are introduced. It may have been made for a wedding about 1690. This
lace is often described in the inventories of old families in France as
dentelle de chasse.
The Blonde lace (Plate 111) was made in Chantilly for a wedding in 1820.
Plate 112 gives three specimens of bobbin-made lace, with the so-called
maglia di Spagna, or Spanish mesh. No. 1 is of linen thread, with a
coarser thread introduced; but one should remark that this thread is not
used to outline the pattern as in Flemish lace. I have not met this
réseau in any Flemish lace. Nos. 2 and 3 are bobbin-made silk lace, and
were ruffles for a Court dress-coat.
The black mantilla, Plate 113, has the fond chant réseau used as a
filling, and, although bought in Madrid in 1840, it may have been made
in France.
The difficulty of working the materials of gold and silver lace is so
great that absolute regularity of either pattern or réseau is
impossible. This, however, in my opinion, only renders these rare laces
more interesting. Both metals are used in the characteristic specimen of
sixteenth-century Spanish lace, No. 1 in Plate 114.
Number 2 is a silver seventeenth-century lace from Genoa, the edge is a
shell pattern, and several thicknesses of the metal-covered silk thread
are used. Plate 115 has four patterns of seventeenth-century gold and
silver lace made in Italy, probably at Lucca.
The Brussels lappet, made in 1849, Plate 116, was then considered one of
the finest ever made, the pattern is pretty and realistic, and
foreshadows the style since prevalent.
The Bedfordshire lappet, on the same plate, is far inferior in
execution, but was made by a cottager at about the same time and has
done good service.
Two patterns of Buckinghamshire lace, Plate 117, made about 1790, show
more even workmanship than is generally seen in this lace. No. 2 has a
likeness to the Mechlin and Lille lace of the same date; No. 1 is more
like the Flemish Trolle Kant, and was, in fact, called Trolly lace. It
will be observed that the fillings have the six-pointed star, or fond
chant réseau, so prevalent in pillow lace.
There is a tradition that the art of bobbin-made lace was imported into
Devonshire by emigrants from the Netherlands, flying from the tyranny of
the Duke of Alva. Mr. Seguin, in his learned book, contends that the
troubles in Flanders had completely destroyed the lace industry before
Philip II. of Spain sent the notorious Duke of Alva there. I believe,
however, both that lace-making existed before that time in England, and
that the emigration had a beneficial effect on all English industry,
although not an initial one.
I have given both the right and wrong side of the Honiton lace
cap-border in Plate 118, to show the threads of the connecting réseau,
passing behind the patterns, the thread making the brides picotées also
passes in the same manner.
Plate 119 shows a remarkably fine specimen of Honiton bobbin lace. The
flowers are made separately in this specimen, and are afterwards joined
by twisted brides claires made with a needle. The design is of birds,
butterflies, and the rose, shamrock, and thistle. It was, perhaps, made
to commemorate the Union.
Plate 120 is of Honiton sprays applied to machine-made net.
Space does not admit of any attempt to give a complete Bibliography. I
find that a mere list of books that I have consulted at different times
would be too long. I will therefore only mention that the works of the
following authors would be very valuable to those intending to pursue
this subject.
A fairly complete list of Italian and German pattern-books will be found
in Mrs. Bury Palliser's "History of Lace." And the works of Mr. Alan
Cole, Dr. Franz Bock, Father Braun, S.J., Dr. Moritz Dreger and Dr. Ilg
of Vienna, Dr. Daniel Rock, Mons. Seguin, and Mr. Verhaagen have all
been especially useful; and while preparing this for the press I have
seen with great delight the splendid book of illustrations of Italian
needle lace compiled by Signora Elisa Ricci.
In concluding these remarks, I must say that I owe the first idea of
writing on this subject to my learned and accomplished husband, Mr. John
Hungerford Pollen. Much information was given me in long bygone days by
Dr. Daniel Rock, and by another old friend, Mrs. Bury Palliser, who gave
me one of my first specimens in 1862.
At the present time I owe many thanks for advice and supervision to Mr.
Alan Cole, whose knowledge of lace is unsurpassed.
PLATES
[Illustration: PLATE I. THE ALB, PRESERVED AT ASSISI, SAID TO HAVE BEEN
WORN BY ST. FRANCIS]
[Illustration: PLATE II. THE ALB WHICH IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN WORN BY POPE
BONIFACE, A.D. 1298]
[Illustration:
PLATE III. (1) DETAIL OF THE ALB OF POPE BONIFACE VIII.
(2) DETAIL OF THE ASSISI ALB.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV. THREE PIECES OF NEEDLEWORK FROM EGYPTO-ROMAN OR
COPTIC TOMBS OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES
One is part of a circular panel or roundel, and the other two are
parts of girdles. The gammadion or symbol of the cross can be traced
in all three: and the polygonal character of the design is similar
to that of the Assisi alb]
[Illustration: PLATE V. (1) A PIECE OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE. (2) DARNED WORK
WITH WHITE LINEN THREAD. (3) PORTION OF A MUMMY CLOTH
No. 1 is a piece of bobbin-made lace, found in the Coptic tombs in
1903, and now in the Cluny Museum in Paris. Bobbins were found at
the same time. I do not think this fabric was made on a lace
pillow, but that a sort of frame with pegs was used to keep the
bobbins separate
No. 2 is darned work with linen white thread, very similar to the
Italian towel No. 1 in Plate XXVIII.; the background is afterwards
darned in with coloured wool. This is also from a Coptic tomb of
the third century
No. 3 is a portion of a mummy cloth of the Eighteenth Dynasty, 1700
B.C. The linen is very strong and of a wiry nature]
[Illustration: PLATE VI. TWO EXAMPLES OF ITALIAN TELA TIRATA AND PUNTO
REALE
Chosen as showing similarity to the work of the Assisi alb.
Together 13 ft. 7 in. long
_Italian. 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE VII. AN EXAMPLE OF EARLY LACIS OR SFILATURA
Chosen as showing similarity to the work of the alb of Pope
Boniface. The square mesh netting has centres worked in matting
stitch, punto a stuora; threads radiate from these centres and
darning stitch and punto di treccia are both used to form various
patterns, some cruciform
7 ft. 9 in. × 10 in.
_Sicilian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII. SEVEN ENLARGED STITCHES USED IN LACIS AND
LINEN LACE
No. 1. Early lacis work, showing the punto a stuora and punto di
treccia
No. 2. Lacis with square knotted mesh and pattern darned with punto
a tela. In this specimen gold thread has been run round the pattern
No. 3. Lacis with a twisted mesh, darned with punto a rammendo;
this style is called Buratto in Italy
No. 4. Tela tirata. The threads are only partly drawn, and the
pattern left in the linen, some threads being cut
No. 5. Tela tirata. In this style some threads of both warp and
woof in the whole piece of linen are drawn: the missing threads of
the pattern are then darned in again; the background is then sewn
over as in the other style. No threads at all are cut, which makes
it more even and durable
No. 6. Punto avorio. The needle-made knots make a very even surface
resembling ivory
No. 7. English needle-point, called Hollie or Holy Work, a stitch
which resembles the Alençon réseau in the working, as after
completing a row the thread is passed back so as always to begin at
the same point]
[Illustration: PLATE IX. FIVE ENLARGED VARIETIES OF RÉSEAUX
No. 1. Small and large réseaux of Point d'Alençon
No. 2. Point de Venise à réseau
No. 3. Point d'Argentan.
No. 4. Brussels needle-made réseau
No. 5. Brussels bobbin-made réseau]
[Illustration: PLATE X. SEVEN ENLARGED VARIETIES OF RÉSEAUX
No. 1. Bobbin-made Maglia di Spagna
No. 2. Bobbin-made Fond chant or Point de Paris
No. 3. Round mesh bobbin-made Valenciennes
No. 4. Bobbin-made Mechlin
No. 5. Cinq trous réseau
No. 6. Bobbin-made square mesh Valenciennes
No. 7. Lille, Arras, or Buckingham réseau]
[Illustration: PLATE XI. BORDER OF LACIS OR DARNED SQUARE MESH NET.
PUNTO A TELA OR LINEN-STITCH
With religious inscriptions: a fanciful peacock and the letters
I.H.S. surrounded by a glory of flames and by little angular angels
4 ft. 10 in. × 2 ft. 10 in.
_Italian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XII. BORDER OF SQUARE MESH LACIS
Intended probably for an altar-cloth with a design of ornamental
hexagonal compartments worked in linen stitch, in each of which are
various devices, I.H.S. in a heart-shape above two heraldic lions,
elsewhere a stag, pairs of birds, symmetrical devices of leaf and
blossom, etc.
6 ft. × 10 in.
_French, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XIII. TWO EXAMPLES OF LACIS WORK
No. 1. Lacis with gammadion, or early Christian symbol. 4 ft.
No. 2. Lacis cover, containing 39 squares of different patterns darned
with punto a tela or linen stitch. The border is of bobbin-made lace. 2
ft. 1 in. × 21 in.
_Italian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XIV. PART OF A QUILT
Made of squares of lacis work alternating with oblongs of linen in which
are squares worked in needle-point called reticello or cut-work.
3 ft. 8 in. × 2 ft. 4 in.
_Italian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XV. LACIS TABLE-COVER
Of square mesh net worked in linen stitch with bold and graceful
scrolls, leaves, etc., amidst which are cartouches of foliated shields
bearing a heraldic lion in the centre. The pattern is outlined and
enriched with gold thread, and the cartouches have a variety of
stitches. It has a bobbin-made vandyke edging of lace (merletti a
fuselli) with gold thread introduced into it.
5 ft. 6 in. × 22 in.
_Italian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XVI. (1) VANDYKE BORDER OF LACIS. (2) PART OF A
QUILT OF SQUARES OF LACIS
No. 1. Vandyke border of lacis knotted square mesh net darned in linen
stitch with repeated large and small blossoms; the larger ones resemble
Tudor roses. 4 ft.
_English, 16th century_
No. 2. Part of a quilt of squares of lacis, the one shown has a pattern
of a vine: alternating with rectangles of linen decorated with small
cut-work. 3 ft. 3 in. × 2 ft.
_German, 16th century_
The pattern in both pieces is outlined and partly worked with punto
riccio]
[Illustration: PLATE XVII. BORDER OF LACIS WITH THE TWISTED MESH CALLED
BURATTO
The design is worked in punto a rammendo with numerous armed men and
animals.
5 ft. 9 in.
_Italian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XVIII. TWO BORDERS OF LACIS CALLED BURATTO
The darning or punto a rammendo of the edge pattern is in each case
worked the reverse way to that employed for the main design.
Together 4 ft. 7 in.
_Italian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: Plate XIX. BAND OF TELA TIRATA OR DRAWN WORK
The pattern left in the linen represents a variety of sacred and other
subjects. A king and a queen between whom is an angel: St. Michael
engaging Satan: St. Rafael holding Tobit by the hand, etc. The
photograph shows a portion, representing St. Francis receiving the
Stigmata; below are the words: S. Francisca. ora pr., above to his left
a church
6 ft. 7 in. × 12½ in.
_Italian, early 14th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XX. PART OF A COVER OF TELA TIRATA OR DRAWN WORK
The pattern left in the linen includes a man in armour, about to slay a
curious beast; elsewhere are archaic birds. 3 ft. 2 in. × 21 in.
_Italian, early 14th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXI. BAND OR FLOUNCE OF TELA TIRATA OR DRAWN WORK
The pattern includes various figures, a wedding-party above two lions
flanking a flower-pot: a hawking-party below
6 ft. 1 in. × 14 in.
_Italian, about 1540_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXII. AN INFANT'S SWADDLING BAND OR "FASCIA" OF
TELA TIRATA
The pattern is of a conventional stem and leaf design. The edging on the
sides is of bobbin-made lace of two patterns
3 ft. × 6 in.
_Sicilian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIII. BAND OF A VARIETY OF TELA TIRATA
With a darned pattern in heavy thread of female figures alternating with
birds; the vandyked edging is of punto avorio
10 ft. 6 in. × 5½ in.
_Sardinia, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV. LINEN CLOTH WITH BORDER
Of tela tirata worked with looped and knotted stitches and reticello:
the geometrical pattern is repeated without variation
25 in. × 17 in.
_Italian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXV. TWO BANDS
No. 1. Band of a variety of tela tirata or drawn-work: pattern a scroll
with a flower: there are no cut threads in this work. 3 ft. 8 in.
No. 2. Band of punto reale and tela tirata with a bobbin-made edging. 4
ft. 11 in.
_Italian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI. PYX VEIL OF TELA TIRATA, OR DRAWN THREAD WORK
This interesting piece is a survival from pre-reformation times. It is 2
ft. 4 in. square and has no cut threads in it. The pattern is made by
drawing 12 threads both of warp and woof and leaving small squares of 12
threads. The loose threads are then most ingeniously whipped over,
forming a star-like pattern between the squares. The worker has passed
her needle behind the squares 8 times so as to form a star at the back
of each square, the corners have wooden balls gilt: and a silk fringe
surrounds the whole]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII. A PORTION OF THE PYX CLOTH, TO SHOW BOTH
SIDES OF THE WORK]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII. THREE CLOTHS, FRINGED
No. 1 has a geometric effect worked on the drawn foundation: this style
is called sfilatura in Italy; the knotted fringe is of macramé. 4 ft. ×
2 ft.
No. 2 has a design of birds and scrolls in punto riccio, a border worked
in punto avorio, and a curious hand-made fringe. 6 ft. 6 in. × 2 ft.
No. 3 is ornamented with reticello and punto riccio and has a
bobbin-made edging and fringe. 3 ft. 6 in. × 2 ft.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIX. TWO BORDERS
No. 1. Border of reticello or needle-point cut-work: the geometrical
rosettes are repeated with very slight internal alteration. 9½ in.
No. 2 is a curious piece consisting of two borders and an edging; the
upper border is a mixture of punto a festone, punto di treccia and punto
a stuora work. The vandyke edge is of bobbin-work (merletti a fuselli).
2 ft. 8 in.
_Italian, 15th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXX. TWO BORDERS
Of needle-point on linen, called reticello or cut-work. The pointed
edgings of both pieces are bobbin-made lace, sometimes called plaited
lace
Together 9 ft. 2 in. × 4 in.
_Italian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXI. TWO EXAMPLES
Of dentated or vandyke edgings of needle-point called punto in aria,
because it is made independently of any foundation.
Together 4 ft. 8 in.
_Italian, about 1550_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXII. CHALICE COVER OF RETICELLO AND PUNTO IN ARIA
In the centre is the figure of St. Peter with the Bible in his right
hand and the Keys in his left. Two winged cherubs hold portions of a
long chain pattern which encircles the details of conventional foliage
and flowers. A lattice of reticello work supports the punto in aria
devices. The linen can be seen at the sides, which have an edge of punto
in aria.
13½ in. × 7½ in.
_17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII. A RETICELLO PATTERN WORKED IN VERY FINE
PUNTO IN ARIA AND PUNTO AVORIO
A pointed edge is also finely worked in punto avorio.
5 ft. 8 in.
_Italian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIV. SCALLOPED BORDER OF A CORPORAL OF FLAT
NEEDLE-POINT LACE, CALLED PUNTO IN ARIA
In which the repeating conventional semi-floral forms are connected by
small brides.
6 ft.
_German, early 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXV. A CLOTH WITH INSERTION AND BORDER OF PUNTO IN
ARIA
The border has a figure in each vandyke, either a lady with two birds or
a siren; the insertion has strange winged and tailed animals supporting
vases of flowers: all the figures, birds and animals have tiny black
beads for eyes.
6 ft. 4 in. × 3 ft.
_Italian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVI. NEEDLE-POINT BORDER OF FLAT NEEDLE-POINT
LACE, CALLED PUNTO IN ARIA
The design of open scrolling and continuous floral stems is arranged to
form points alternately of carnations and hyacinths and includes stags,
hounds, peacocks and other animals: the Visconti crest--a crowned
serpent--is introduced, and the stems sometimes twist into true lovers'
knots. This piece was probably made for a wedding.
4 ft. 3 in. × 5½ in.
_Venetian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVII. ORNAMENT FOR THE NECK OF AN ALB OF PUNTO IN
ARIA
The Madonna, in a robe sprinkled with stars and crowned, is seated on
clouds, her foot resting on the head of a cherub. The three persons of
the Trinity are above. Cherubs and conventional flowers are introduced
into the background: the robes are worked apart from the figures in a
lacis stitch called mezza mandolina. Small glass beads are added to the
eyes.
18 in. × 6½ in.
_16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII. BORDER AND EDGING
No. 1. Border of needle-point lace, called punto in relievo or
rose-point. Birds and serpents occur in the design and each portion of
the pattern is outlined by a thick cordonnet worked in buttonhole
stitch, punto à festone. This thick cordonnet is also used to denote the
scales of the serpent and to accentuate the features of the birds, the
narrow braid at the top of the lace is bobbin-made, the edging is of
very fine needle-point called punto avorio.
11 in. × 3½ in.
_Italian, 16th century_
No. 2. Edging of flat needle-point lace à brides. The pattern is a
somewhat confused rendering of a continuous scrolling stem type; the
brides irregularly introduced have pronounced picots; and this feature
has given rise to the title of coraline lace, on account of its
suggestion of coral forms.
_Venetian, about 1660_]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXIX. A LADY'S CAMISIA OR SHIRT
The back and front are in one piece with a square opening for the head:
this is worked all round with a fine insertion and vandyked edge of
punto in aria: the sleeves have oblique insertions of reticello work. In
the cuffs bobbin-made lace has replaced the original work
_Italian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XL. BED-COVER OF CUT LINEN LACE (TELA TAGLIATA A
FOLIAMI AND PUNTO A FESTONE)
The pattern is of bold flowing scrolls, cut in linen, edged by
buttonhole stitch, and joined by brides: a few modes are introduced into
the blossom forms, the edging is of bobbin-made lace (merletto a
fuselli).
7 ft. 6 in. × 4 ft. 8 in.
_Venetian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLI. RABAT OF FLAT NEEDLE-POINT LACE À BRIDES
The pattern is of well-balanced scrolls and conventional flowers
enriched with a few simple modes and joined by brides variously picotées
11½ in. × 7½ in.
_Venetian, about 1640_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLII. PART OF A DRESS TRIMMING OF VERY FINE
NEEDLE-POINT, CALLED ROSE-POINT (PUNTO TAGLIATO A FOLIAMI)
The pattern wrought chiefly in close toilé consists of scrolls and
conventional flowers joined by very few brides. Intermixed with the
toilé are variations of simple modes.
31 in. × 10 in.
_Venetian, about 1640_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLIII. PARTS OF A COLLAR OF NEEDLE-POINT, CALLED
ROSE-POINT, OR POINT DE VENISE (PUNTO TAGLIATO A FOLIAMI)
Pattern of continuous scrolls and conventional flowers frequently
enriched on their raised cordonnets with picots and joined by brides
picotées
5 ft. 9 in. × 3½ in.
_Venetian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLIV. STOMACHER (FOR A DRESS) OF NEEDLE-POINT,
CALLED ROSE-POINT, OR POINT DE VENISE
(PUNTO TAGLIATO A FOLIAMI)
Pattern of conventional flowers joined by brides picotées: the clothing
or toilé of these flowers is of very close work
10 in. long.
_Venetian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLV. PART OF A FLOUNCE OF NEEDLE-POINT, CALLED
ROSE-POINT, OR POINT DE VENISE
(PUNTO TAGLIATO A FOLIAMI)
A splendid scroll occurs in the pattern here shown which is rich with
conventional flowers and double brides picotées
17 in. × 9½ in.
_Venetian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLVI. PART OF A BEAUTIFUL FLOUNCE OF DELICATE
NEEDLE-POINT OF RAISED OR ROSE-POINT LACE, KNOWN AS POINT DE VENISE
The pattern consists of well-balanced elegantly scrolling devices,
terminating in conventional leaves and flowers with occasional raised
work on them, and is set in a ground of brides picotées arranged in
hexagons. The style of many features in the design is French (Louis
XIV.) and the specimen seems to be of Franco-Venetian origin
17½ in. × 19½ in.
_Venice, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLVII. PORTION OF XLVI. ACTUAL SIZE]
[Illustration: PLATE XLVIII. PATEN COVER OF NEEDLE-POINT RAISED, OR
ROSE-POINT LACE, VERY SIMILAR IN STYLE AND GRACEFULNESS TO THAT OF No.
XXXIII.
The pattern consists of slender scrolls, with flowers enriched with
massings or galleries of picots surrounding the letters I.H.S. at the
centre
6½ in. square.
_Venetian, about 1670_]
[Illustration: PLATE XLIX. A PORTION OF XLVIII., MAGNIFIED TO SHOW THE
STITCHES]
[Illustration: PLATE L. THREE BORDERS OF DELICATE NEEDLE-POINT RAISED OR
ROSE-POINT LACE
Sometimes called point de neige on account of the massings or galleries
of picots on the raised rosettes. It is also called rosaline in Italy.
Some authorities claim this style as French, and it is one that may be
fairly termed _Franco-Venetian, about 1670-80_
Together 4 ft. 8 in. × 2 in.]
[Illustration: PLATE LI. DEEP FLOUNCE OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À BRIDES
PICOTÉES, USUALLY CALLED POINT DE FRANCE
This handsome design, in the rendering of which the play of contrast as
between toilé and simple modes is a salient feature, is composed of
semi-realistic leaf, fruit and flower forms arranged symmetrically in
groups which are repeated alternately through the whole length of the
flounce. Accentuations of raised cordonnet are occasionally introduced.
9 ft. 2 in. × 13½ in.
_French (Alençon or Sedan), about 1690_]
[Illustration: PLATE LII. PORTION OF LI., ENLARGED]
[Illustration: PLATE LIII. BORDER OF NEEDLE-POINT RAISED LACE, CALLED
SPANISH ROSE-POINT
The fond or toilé of this lace is partly made of bobbin-made tape; on
this is raised work, and gimps as well as buttonhole-stitched cordonnets
of different dimensions outline and accentuate the rounded serrations
and inner portions of the conventional foliage forms, into which are
introduced many varieties of modes.
4 ft. 6½ in.
_Spanish, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LIV. TWO SPECIMENS OF NEEDLE-POINT RAISED LACE,
CALLED SPANISH ROSE-POINT
(SLIGHTLY REDUCED IN SIZE)
This fond is partly of bobbin-made tape: on this is raised work of gimp
and various cordonnets buttonhole stitched and edged with loops. These
latter, from their sort of caterpillar effect, originate the fanciful
name sometimes given of caterpillar point
_Spanish, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LV. TWO EXAMPLES OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE
No. 1 is of silk needle-point lace with cordonnet, buttonholed in
different sizes. This is a small portion, actual size, of the lace used
to embellish the Jewish talith or silk mantle or scarf worn at prayers.
_Venetian, 17th century_
No. 2. Border of needle-point lace sometimes called mezzo-punto, as fine
bobbin-made tape or braid is used to outline the pattern, two or three
varieties of needle fillings are wrought within the tape forms. 19 in.
_17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LVI. CAP OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À RÉSEAU
The design consists of a waved open ornamental riband device crossing a
spray of conventional flowers. This lace may be distinguished from
Alençon by the use of a single thread instead of a buttonholed stitch in
the cordonnet as well as by the make and lay of the meshed ground, point
de Venise à réseau. The style of the design is borrowed from the French
of the latter part of the 17th century.
2 ft. 8 in. × 6 in.
_Venetian, late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LVII. A BORDER OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE, VENETIAN POINT
À RÉSEAU
The leading masses of the pattern undulate, and between the undulations
are either conventional leaves or flowers filled in with simple diaper
modes and more openly arranged brides picotées.
3 ft. 5 in.
_Venetian, late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LVIII. TWO EXAMPLES OF VENETIAN POINT À RÉSEAU
No. 1. Needle-point lace usually called Venetian point à réseau. The
pattern entirely covers the lace and is of conventional floral type: the
fillings are very varied. This lace is not Venetian in design, and was
probably made at Sedan.
6 ft. 5 in.
_Sedan, early 18th century_
No. 2 is a beautiful fragment, actual size, of Venetian point à réseau.
_Venice, late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LIX. A BORDER OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE, POSSIBLY
VENETIAN, THOUGH THE STYLE IS FRENCH
The pattern is of leafy scrolls and conventional flowers well marked,
enriched with light fillings and outlined with cordonnet of fine
buttonhole stitching. The ground is of buttonholed brides arranged into
hexagons strongly suggestive of Point d'Argentan.
6 ft. 6 in.
_(French (?) Alençon or Sedan) late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LX. TWO PATTERNS NEEDLE-POINT LACE À RÉSEAU, CALLED
POINT D'ALENÇON
In No. 1 the pattern is Venetian in style and the fillings and réseau
also mark it as from Burano. In No. 2 the style is more French and it
may be from Alençon: every detail of the patterns is outlined with a
buttonhole-stitch cordonnet.
Together 9 ft. 6 in.
_Late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXI. TWO BORDERS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE A RÉSEAU,
CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
In the border small compartments are treated with modes or à jours and
occasional brides picotées: a buttonhole-stitch cordonnet outlines every
detail of the pattern.
4 ft. 8 in.
_Alençon, about 1710_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXII. FOUR BORDERS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À RÉSEAU,
CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
Together 13 ft. 6 in.
_Alençon, about 1740_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXIII. CAP-BORDER OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À RÉSEAU,
CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
The pattern consists of a waved stem serrated, from which spring small
sprays of flowers. The width is graduated and the length is without a
join. The modes or fillings, at intervals along the edge, are of dainty
star and other geometric devices and all particularly characteristic of
French (Alençon) lace.
3 ft. 4 in.
_Alençon, middle 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXIV. BEAUTIFUL LAPPET OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À
RÉSEAU, CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
The pattern is of tiny wavy stems, having little leaves and peapods,
which recur in the design of the outer border with lattice and honeycomb
fillings enriched with minute picots.
4 ft.
_Alençon, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXV. THREE PATTERNS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À RÉSEAU,
CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
The ornamental design is mainly confined to the border, the réseau being
sprinkled with dots, called pois or sometimes larmes (hence the
expression semé de larmes).
Together 7 ft. 6 in.
_Alençon, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXVI. TWO PATTERNS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À RÉSEAU,
CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
The main ornamentation is along the border. The ground is semé de pois
and little sprays, after the style of other such small devices, some of
which gave rise to the term semé de larmes.
Together 9 ft. 10 in.
_Alençon, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXVII. CAPE OF NEEDLE-POINT CALLED POINT D'ALENÇON
This piece shows two sizes of mesh in the réseaux: the large forms the
main ground, semé de larmes, whilst the finer is introduced as a mode in
the border of pointed leafy forms.
5 ft. 3 in. × 5½ in.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXVIII. TWO BORDERS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE
Called point d'Argentan, on account of the make of the
big mesh ground. The pattern of the first is similar to that of No.
LXIII.; in the waved garland is a filling of very fine mesh (the Alençon
ground). The pattern of the second is of the semé de pois or de larmes
style and in the edge is a recurrent filling of fine Alençon ground. The
main ground of both pieces is composed of hexagonal meshes worked over
in buttonhole stitch, as in Argentan lace.
Together 4 ft. 10 in.
_Argentan. No. 1 about 1750. No. 2 about 1780_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXIX. LAPPET OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE, CALLED POINT
D'ARGENTAN
The edge is formed by repeated curved sprays enclosing small spaces
which are filled by a fine Alençon réseau: sprays of flowers also occur
at intervals along the lace. The ground is entirely composed of
hexagonal meshes worked over in button-hole stitch of Point d'Argentan.
4 ft. 2 in. × 7 in.
_Argentan, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXX. THREE SPECIMENS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE
No. 1 is of silk lace à réseau and has a quaint stiff pattern of
branches with birds introduced; a stout thread cordonnet outlines most
of the pattern, that of the eye, wing and tail of each bird is
overworked with buttonhole stitch.
_Probably Portuguese, 18th century_
No. 2 is from a floral design treated with occasional buttonhole
cordonnet as in No. 2.
No. 3. Border of needle-point, called "point de gaze" on account of the
extreme delicacy of the bobbin-made réseau (vrai réseau de Bruxelles):
the pattern is a flowery border with small sprays recurring in the
ground in the style of the Louis XVI. period.
Together 3 ft. 3 in.
_Brussels, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXI. LAPPET OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE
Called point de gaze on account of the delicacy of the réseau. The
design of scrolls and flowers is chiefly worked in a rather loose toilé,
outlined with a stout thread cordonnet and enriched with various open
modes or fillings.
3 ft. 3 in. × 4½ in.
_Brussels, 1830_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXII. PART OF A SCARF
Or veil of light needle-point fine stem floral pattern worked on a
foundation of machine-made net
6 ft. × 2 ft.
_Brussels, 1840_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXIII. FLOUNCE OF MACHINE-MADE NET WITH PATTERN
DARNED ON IT
This class of work is now usually called Limerick lace, but it was often
made in England and in many places abroad
3 ft. × 7 in.
_Italian, about 1830_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXIV. PART OF FULL-SIZE COTTA OF NET WITH LARGE
FLOWER PATTERN DARNED IN SILK INTO IT
The work is very evenly done
_French, about 1839_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXV. A SPECIMEN OF THE EMBROIDERED MUSLIN WORK
CALLED TÖNDER LACE
This is formed of two thicknesses of muslin sewn in different patterns
by the needle: in places the second thickness of muslin is cut away when
the needlework is completed. The design is composed of leaf and floral
ornaments gracefully shaped and somewhat French in style
12 in. × 8 in.
_Danish, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXVI. TWO SPECIMENS OF THE EMBROIDERED MUSLIN
WORK, CALLED TÖNDER LACE
In No. 1 only one thickness of muslin is employed: the thicker looking
parts of the toilé result from the passing of very evenly darned threads at
the back of it
In No. 2 two thicknesses of muslin are used. The floral forms, much more
slender than in No. 1, are defined with a stout thread cordonnet.
Together 5 ft. 10 in.
_Danish, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXVII. THREE PATTERNS OF MUSLIN LACE
From German Bohemia. Two thicknesses of muslin are used.
Together 7 ft.
_18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXVIII. FOUR PATTERNS OF DUTCH LINEN LACE
The outlines of conventional floral patterns are in chain stitch, and
the fillings very various and finely executed
Together 8 ft. 9 in.
_Gouda, 18th century._]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXIX. (1) MANILA LACE. (2 AND 3) LACE WORKED IN
NEEDLE-POINT
No. 1. A specimen of needlework called Manila lace, made upon a light
cambric-like stuff woven from fibre of great fineness. The flowers are
embroidered and the whole ground of square meshes is worked by the
needle, in the same way as the tela tirata work
_Manila, about 1840_
Nos. 2 and 3. Lace worked in fine needlepoint stitches with human hair
of different shades--the pattern is evidently copied from the Venetian
_English, about 1800_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXX. (1) INFANT'S BAPTISM CAP. (2) A CAP BORDER
No. 1. Infant's Baptism cap with insertions of needlepoint lace called
Hollie or Holy point: the design in the crown shows the doves and the
pot with flowers reminiscent of the Annunciation
_English, 16th century_
No. 2. A cap border of Limerick run lace
_Irish, 19th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXI. THREE SPECIMENS OF EARLY IRISH NEEDLE-POINT
LACE
No. 1 has a tape introduced. No. 3 is the so-called Carrickmacross lace
(first made about 1848)
Together 6 ft.
_About 1848_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXII. SPECIMEN OF KNOTTED AND TWISTED STRING OR
THREAD WORK, CALLED MACRAMÉ
This sort of work is often made by knotting the frayed ends on the edge
of a woven material, or else separately by knotting strings of cords of
linen or silk, the ends of which are fastened to a small cushion or
pillow, but bobbins are not used in this work.
10 in. × 12 in.
_Italian, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIII. FLOUNCE
For an alb of bobbin-made lace, in the making of which a continuous
braid is used to form the pattern. The lace is shaped on its lower edge
into flatly curving scallops or mitres.
9 ft. 4 in. × 10½ in.
_Maltese, early 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIV. TWO PATTERNS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
No. 1 a design decidedly Eastern. No. 2 has a floral design. Both are
made in the first manner, the pattern entirely carried out with the tape
it was begun with, no brides or réseau being added
Together 4 ft. 7 in.
_Venetian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXV. FOUR BOBBIN-MADE LACES (REDUCED IN SIZE)
No. 1 is peasant lace of the familiar type
No. 2 a fine insertion to ornament bed-linen, with a conventional floral
design
No. 3 a similar design in a coarser lace
_Italian, 16th century_
No. 4 is a Maltese lace of the 16th century
Together 10 ft. 2 in.]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVI. FOUR BOBBIN-MADE LACES (REDUCED IN SIZE)
No. 1 is a reticello pattern }
No. 2 is a vandyked pattern in so-called plaited lace} _Italian, 16th
No. 3 is a simple plaited lace or gimp } century_
Nos. 4 and 5 are very fine examples of early Italian bobbin laces of
16th century.
Together 23½ yards]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVII. BOBBIN-MADE LACE
No. 1. Fringed edging of bobbin-made lace. In both pieces the
characteristic little seed shapes are freely used
No. 2. Scalloped border of bobbin-made lace called collar lace, in which
the ornament is formed chiefly by a continuous narrow toilé or braid.
The same threads are used in the whole width of the lace
Together 3 ft. 2 in.
_Genoese, late 16th or early 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVIII. FIVE BOBBIN-MADE LACES
No. 1 a curious early pattern of lace made in Umbria
Nos. 2 and 3 are Sicilian peasant laces
No. 4 a lace called in Umbria piedi di gallina
No. 5 a peasant lace called zeccatello
Together 10 ft. 4 in.
_Italian, 16th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIX. SIX SPECIMENS OF LACE MADE BEFORE 1850
One each in Russia, Madeira, Portugal, and Ceylon, and two from Le Puy
in France
Together 14 ft.]
[Illustration: PLATE XC. TWO BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE À BRIDES
The pattern of scrolls and leaves is made separately and joined on the
pillow by single and knotted brides in the smaller piece and by double
and knotted brides in the larger one.
Together, 8 ft. 7 in. × 5 in.
_Genoese, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCI. FLOUNCE OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE À BRIDES IN
WHICH THE TOILÉ IS WELL DEVELOPED
The pattern is of large conventional sprays made separately on the
pillow and afterwards joined by bobbin-made knotted brides.
5 ft. 7 in. × 6 in.
_Italian, early 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCII. FLOUNCE OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
The pattern includes birds (an eagle, a peacock, a parrot, a crow, etc.)
set amidst conventional scrolls and flowers. These are all made
separately and joined on the pillow by double and knotted brides
9 ft. 11 in. × 9 in.]
[Illustration: PLATE XCIII.
The lace, as XCII actual size.
_Genoese, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCIV. FLOUNCE OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
The pattern of beautifully arranged scrolls and flowers includes an
eagle with a "marquis" coronet and other small birds: a réseau connects
the whole.
3 ft. × 12 in.
_Milanese, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCV. PART OF A FLOUNCE FOR AN ALB, OF BOBBIN-MADE
LACE À RÉSEAU
The pattern is made separately and arranged to form conventional scrolls
and flowers: a réseau unites the whole.
16 in. × 8 in.
_Milanese, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCVI. FLOUNCE FOR AN ALB OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE À
RÉSEAU
The pattern is of graceful conventional floral and other forms arranged
symmetrically in groups repeating one another. A variety of noticeable
fillings is introduced. This specimen is reduced in size.
9 ft. 8 in. × 14½ in.
_Milanese, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCVII. TWO BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
No. 1. Border of bobbin-made lace. The pattern consists of repeated
groupings of scrolls and pendant forms; the same thread is used
throughout
_Italian, 17th century_
No. 2. Border of bobbin-made lace à réseau. The pattern is composed with
a slender toilé arranged to form continuous scrolls with leafy
offshoots: the réseau ground is of the fond chant type: the same thread
is used throughout.
Together 11 ft.
_Italian, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCVIII. THREE BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE EDGING
Together 10 ft. 7 in.
_Maltese, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE XCIX. BOBBIN-MADE LACE À RÉSEAU
No. 1 is made up of three lengths of lace sewn together. The straight
edge indicates perhaps an earlier date for this interesting specimen
than that of the narrower piece.
Together 5 ft.
_Flanders, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE C. CAP OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, CALLED POINT DE FLANDRE
À BRIDES PICOTÉES
The ornamental details were made separately and then joined by
bobbin-made brides: the modes or fillings are in the style of the cinq
trous réseau.
12 in. long
_Flanders, late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CI. THREE PATTERNS OF BOBBIN-MADE MECHLIN LACE
The patterns are in the style of the Point d'Angleterre, but the toilé
is outlined with a thread cordonnet: the same quality of thread is used
for both toilé, réseau and fillings: the réseau is peculiar to this
beautiful lace.
Together 6 ft.
_Mechlin, early 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CII. THREE BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE MECHLIN LACE
The patterns of the later style of lace are much lighter in effect and
gradually become merely a border of small floral ornament.
Together 9 ft. 8 in.
_Mechlin, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CIII. FOUR SPECIMENS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, CALLED
BINCHE LACE
The same threads are used for the whole width of the lace.
Together 6 ft. 6 in.
_Binche, late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CIV. THREE BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, À VRAI
RÉSEAU DE BRUXELLES, CALLED POINT D'ANGLETERRE.
The toilé details were made separately and joined on the pillow by a
réseau. The fillings are very varied and beautiful. These borders are
worked from Louis XV. designs.
Together 8 ft. 8 in.
_Brussels, 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CV. LAPPET OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, CALLED POINT
D'ANGLETERRE
Leafy, blossom and other shapes in toilé are arranged to form the outer
waved edges between which are baskets of flowers, etc. The toilé forms
are partially accentuated with a plaited cordonnet. The details of the
pattern are made separately on the pillow, and then joined by a fine
réseau, called vrai réseau de Bruxelles. The fillings are wonderfully
fine.
4 ft. 10 in. × 3 in.
_Brussels, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CVI. TWO PARTS OF A BORDER OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE,
CALLED BRUSSELS POINT
The flowers made separately and almost entirely of a plaited cordonnet
are joined on the pillow by a fine vrai réseau de Bruxelles. The design
is in the style of Louis XVI. point d'Alençon. The reverse of the lace
is shown in No. 2. The thread of the réseau can be seen passing behind
the patterns.
5 ft. 3 in. × 5 in.
_Brussels, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CVII. (1) A SCARF. (2) A CAP
No. 1. A scarf of bobbin-made lace, called Antwerp lace, or Potten Kant
or Pot Lace. The réseau is somewhat similar to that of the point de
Paris, a variant of the cinq trous. The lace is made on the pillow in
strips which are almost imperceptibly joined together. The toilé details
are outlined with a stout thread cordonnet
12 ft. × 8 in.
_Antwerp, late 18th century_
No. 2. A cap of bobbin-made lace, called Lille lace. The lace is made on
the pillow in strips, joined together. The réseau is of simply twisted
threads.
11 in. × 11 in.
_Lille, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CVIII. THREE BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, CALLED
VALENCIENNES POINT
This early Valenciennes has a round plaited mesh, in distinction to that
of the later Valenciennes lace, which has a square mesh
Together 8 ft. 5 in.
_Valenciennes, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CIX. FOUR BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, CALLED
VALENCIENNES LACE, WITH SQUARE MESH RÉSEAU
Together 7 ft.
_Yprès, 19th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CX. BORDER OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE, WITH A POINT DE
PARIS RÉSEAU
An eagle, with shield, dogs and stags are repeated in the pattern. The
réseau and the toilé are both made with the same thread.
4 ft. 10 in. × 3 in.
_Paris, late 17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXI. FLOUNCE FOR A DRESS, OF BOBBIN-MADE SILK LACE
Pattern of repeated heavy flowers in sprays, forming a waved edge
_Made at Chantilly, 1820-30_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXII. THREE BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE WITH A
RÉSEAU OF MAGLIA DI SPAGNA
No. 1 is of linen thread with a heavy thread introduced, not as in some
Flemish laces to outline the pattern, but to form strong leading lines
in it.
Nos. 2 and 3 are bobbin-made silk lace, a coarser silk thread is
introduced. These were the ruffles for a coat sleeve
Together 9 ft.
_Spanish, late 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXIII. MANTILLA OR SCARF OF BOBBIN-MADE BLACK SILK
LACE
Some of the fillings are of the point de Paris réseau, also called fond
chant from Chantilly, where much of the so-called Spanish silk lace was
made
9 ft. × 30 in.
_Bought in Madrid in 1840_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXIV. TWO EXAMPLES OF BOBBIN-MADE INSERTION
No. 1. Spanish bobbin-made insertion: the stems are of gold and the
flowers of silver
_16th century_
No. 2. Genoese bobbin-made insertion of silver with shell pattern edge.
Together 3 ft. 6 in.
_17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXV. FOUR PATTERNS OF ITALIAN GOLD AND SILVER
BOBBIN-MADE LACE
Probably made at Lucca.
Together 11 ft. 6 in.
_17th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXVI. TWO LAPPETS OF BOBBIN-MADE BLACK
No. 1. Lappet of bobbin-made black Bedfordshire silk lace
No. 2. Lappet of bobbin-made black Brussels silk lace
Together 7 ft.
_About 1848_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXVII. TWO BORDERS OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
No. 1. Bobbin-made lace. The pattern of leaves is outlined in parts by a
stout thread
No. 2. A large flower repeated forms the edge. The characteristic very
simple réseau is spotted with groups of six small square dots
Together 4 ft. 10 in.
_Bucks, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXVIII. BORDER AND CAP CROWN OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
Of Devonshire make in the style of Point d'Angleterre or Brussels lace.
The toilé details are made separately and joined partly by réseau and
partly by brides picotées. The upper piece shows the back of the lace,
with the threads from the réseau carried across the toilé of the
pattern. The convolutions of the toilé in the blossoms are considered to
be characteristic of Honiton lace.
3 ft. 4 in.
_Honiton, 18th century_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXIX. LAPPET OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE
The toilé flowers and leaves, chiefly rose, shamrock and thistle, are
joined by an irregular mesh simple réseau made by hand. The original
design was perhaps to celebrate the Union.
5 ft. × 5½ in.
_Honiton, about 1840_]
[Illustration: PLATE CXX. TWO BORDERS OF APPLIQUÉ LACE, ONE WITH A
VANDYKE EDGE AND ONE WITH A MITRED OR SCALLOPED EDGE
The flowers are of bobbin-made lace with accentuations of plaited
cordonnet as in Point d'Angleterre, and then applied and sewn to
machine-made net.
Together 4 ft. 5 in.
_Devonshire (Honiton)_]
INDEX
A
Alb, 9, 23, 27, 30, 33
Alençon, 10, 15, 31, 37, 50
Alexandria, 26
Alva, Duke of, 52
Angleterre, 38
Angoulême, Marguérite d', 31, 32
Antwerp, 50
Apparels, 24
Appliqué, 9, 52
Argentan, 15, 39
Argentella, 9
Arras, 16, 50
Assisi, 25
Assisi, Basilica of, 29
Avorio, punto, 9, 14, 31, 34, 35
B
Bar Convent, The, 40
Bedfordshire, 51
Benedictine Order, 24
Bible of St. Martial, 23
Bibliothèque Nationale, 23, 24
Binche, 38, 49
Blonde, 16, 51
Bobbin Lace, Classification of, 4
Bock, Dr. Franz, 28, 53
Bone point, 9
Boniface VIII., 27, 28
Braun, S. J., Father, 53
British Museum, 21
Brussels, 16, 39, 47, 51
Buckingham, 16, 50, 51
Burano, 37
Buratto, 4, 10, 31
Buttonhole stitch, 10, 28
Byssus, 28
C
Camisia, 35
Carrickmacross, 41
Cartiglia, 27
Catacombs, 26
Catherine de Marcq, 38
Ceylon, 45, 47
Chalice cover, 34
Chantilly, 16, 51
Charlemagne, 23
Charles II., 38
Church vestments, 22
Clare, Saint, 25
Colbert, 38
Cole, Mr. Alan, 53
Copes, 22
Coptic design, 4, 21, 25
Coraline point, 35
Corporal border, 34
Cotta, 10
Crypt of St. Peter's, 29
D
Dalmatia, 45
Dalmatic, 22
Darned work, 39
Denmark, 39
Dentelle, 23, 34
Dentelle de chasse, 51
Devonshire lace, 52
Dreger, Dr. Moritz, 53
Duccio di Buoninsegna, 30
Dugdale's History, 22
Dutch lace, 40
E
Egyptians, 26
English Nuns Rule, 22
Entrelacs, 25
F
Festone, Punto a, 14, 28
Flanders, 16, 48, 51
Florence lace, 32
Fogliami, Punto tagliato a, 36
Fortescue, Dr. Adrian, 27
France, Point de, 37
Francis I., King, 32
Francis, Saint, 25, 27, 32
G
Gammadion Symbol, 21, 22, 26, 27, 31
Gayet, Mr. A., 25, 30
Genoa, 13, 46, 47, 51
German lace, 31, 34, 40
Giotto, 29
Gnostic definition, 25
Gouda lace, 40
Gozo, 46
Greek work, 21, 25
Gregory V., 27
Grottaferrata, 27
H
Hair lace, 40
Heraldic lace, 30, 31, 35, 48, 50
Hermitage, Petersburg, 21
Hexagonal meshes, 39
Holy or Hollie lace, 40
Honiton, 47, 52
I
Ilg, Dr., 53
Irish lace, 41
Ivory stitch, 11, 34
L
Lace-making, Revival of, 4
Lace Pattern Books, 21
Lacis, 4, 11, 22, 23, 30, 31
Lateran, St. John, 29
Leipzig, 40
Le Puy, 47
Lille, 16, 50, 52
Limerick, 40
Lorenzetti, 30
Louis XIV., 38
Louis XVI., 38
Louvre, 29
Lucca, 51
M
Macramé, 12, 33
Madeira, 47
Madrid, 51
Malta, 45, 46, 48
Manila Lace, 40
Manuscripts, illuminated, 23
Marie Antoinette, Queen, 39
Marot, Clément, 32
Martial, Saint, 23
Mary Stuart, Queen, 40
Mechlin, 16, 49, 52
Mezza Mandolina, 35
Michael, Saint, 32
Milan, 47, 48
Modano, 4, 12, 22, 30
Moresco, 12
N
Navarre, Queen of, 31
Needle-point, Classification of, 5
Nilos, Saint, 27
O
Opus sfilatorum, 22
Oriental design, 21
Otho III., 27
P
Palliser, Mrs. Bury, 52, 53
Paris, 16, 37, 50
Passemens, 24
Paten Cover, 37
Peter, Saint, 34
Pizzi, 24, 34
Point à réseau, 15, 37, 49
Point de gaze, 39
Point de neige, 13, 17
Pollen, Mr. John Hungerford, 53
Polygonal Design, 25, 27, 30
Portugal, 39, 47
Potten Kant, 50
Punto in aria, 5, 14, 33
Pyx Veil, 4
R
Ragusa, 12
Rammendo, Punto a, 13, 31
Ravenna, 30
Reale, Punto, 15, 25, 33
Renaissance, 35
Reticello, 5, 17, 23, 29, 31, 33
Ricci Signora Elisa, 53
Riccio Punto, 15, 31
Rilievo, Punto in, 15
Rock, Dr. Daniel, 26, 27, 53
Rosepoint, 17, 36
Rufinus, 26
Russia, 45
Rustafjaell, Mr., 21
S
Sabina, Saint, 24
Sardinia, 45
Sedan, 37
Seguin, Mr., 52, 53
Semé de larmes, 38
Sens Cathedral, 24
Serapis, 26
Sicily, 21, 45
Sistine Chapel, 27
Socrates, 26
Spain, 16, 21, 37, 45, 51
Stuora, Punto a, 13, 28, 32
Swaddling Band, 33
Syon Cope, 22
T
Tela Tirata, 5, 17, 23, 25
Templars, 22
Tönder Lace, 39
Treccia, Punto, 14, 28
Trolle Kant, 48, 52
Tudor Rose, 31
Tuscan Lace, 47
V
Valenciennes, 16, 49, 50
Valetta, 46
Vatican Treasury, 22, 27
Venice Lace, 36, 45
Verhaagen, Mr., 53
Victoria and Albert Museum, 23, 30
Visconti, 35
Y
Yprès, 16, 50
Z
Zeccatello Lace, 47
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY
LIMITED, AT THE BALLANTYNE
PRESS, TAVISTOCK STREET
COVENT GARDEN
LONDON
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
The following list shows the corrections made to the text. The first line
shows the text as originally printed, the second line the corrected
version.
IX. Five enlarged Varieties of Réseaux
IX. Five Enlarged Varieties of Réseaux
XXVI. Pyx Veil of Tele Tirata, or Drawn Thread Work
XXVI. Pyx Veil of Tela Tirata, or Drawn Thread Work
XXXIII. A Reticello Pattern worked in very fine Punto in Ario and
XXXIII. A Reticello Pattern worked in very fine Punto in Aria and
CXII. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Lace, with a reseau of Maglia di Spagna
CXII. Three Borders of Bobbin-made Lace, with a réseau of Maglia di Spagna
often used for lace made with a tape, but it
used for lace made with a tape, but it
round the round réseau. _See_ Plate 108.
round réseau. _See_ Plate 108.
lace, in which the fond is really of toile, cut
lace, in which the fond is really of toilé, cut
forth by Rufinus, A.D. 397, and by Socrates A.D. 440.
forth by Rufinus, A.D. 397, and by Socrates B.C. 440.
probably fine punto in aria worked in points, as Plate 30, but it
probably fine punto in aria worked in points, as in Plate 30, but it
called Tonder muslin lace made in Denmark in the eighteenth
called Tönder muslin lace made in Denmark in the eighteenth
for caps; it is caled Gouda lace; the fillings are very well
for caps; it is called Gouda lace; the fillings are very well
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI. PYX VEIL OF TELE TIRATA, OR DRAWN THREAD WORK
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI. PYX VEIL OF TELA TIRATA, OR DRAWN THREAD WORK
One is part of a circula panel or roundel, and the
One is part of a circular panel or roundel, and the
[Illustration: PLATE LXIV. BEAUTIFUL LAPPET OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE A
[Illustration: PLATE LXIV. BEAUTIFUL LAPPET OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE À
parts the toilé result from the passing of very evenly darned threads at
parts of the toilé result from the passing of very evenly darned threads at
Called point d' Argentan, on account of the make of the
Called point d'Argentan, on account of the make of the
[Illustration: PLATE XCI. FLOUNCE OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE A BRIDES IN
[Illustration: PLATE XCI. FLOUNCE OF BOBBIN-MADE LACE À BRIDES IN
_Ypres, 19th century_
_Yprès, 19th century_
[Illustration: CXX. TWO BORDERS OF APPLIQUÉ LACE, ONE WITH A
[Illustration: PLATE CXX. TWO BORDERS OF APPLIQUÉ LACE, ONE WITH A
Angoulême, Marguerite d', 31, 32
Angoulême, Marguérite d', 31, 32
Marot, Clement, 32
Marot, Clément, 32
Point a réseau, 15, 37, 49
Point à réseau, 15, 37, 49
Séguin, Mr., 52, 53
Seguin, Mr., 52, 53
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