Seven Centuries of Lace 9

Seven Centuries of Lace 9

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.