Part 1
[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.