Seven Centuries of Lace

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.

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.

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]

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.

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, 2s."[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.

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]

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]

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]

"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]

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]

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.