Part 2

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.