Trés-Chrestienne Reine de France et de Navarre, Marie de Médicis, and bears
her cipher and arms, yet in the decorated frontispiece is a cushion with a
piece of lacis in progress, the pattern a daisy looking at the sun, the
favourite impresa of her predecessor, the divorced Marguerite, now, by
royal ordinance, "Marguerite Reine, Duchesse de Valois." (Fig. 4.)
[Illustration: Fig. 5.
ELIZABETHAN SAMPLER.]
_To face page 22._
{23}These pattern-books being high in price and difficult to procure,
teachers of the art soon caused the various patterns to be reproduced in
"samcloths,"[73] as samplars were then termed, and young ladies worked at
them diligently as a proof of their competency in the arts of cut-work,
lacis and réseuil, much as a dame-school child did her A B C in the country
villages some years ago. Proud mothers caused these _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of
their children to be framed and glazed; hence many have come down to us
hoarded up in old families uninjured at the present time. (Fig. 5.)
A most important specimen of lacis was exhibited at the Art International
Exhibition of 1874, by Mrs. Hailstone, of Walton Hall, an altar frontal 14
feet by 4 feet, executed in point conté, representing eight scenes from the
Passion of Christ, in all fifty-six figures, surrounded by Latin
inscriptions. It is assumed to be of English workmanship.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.
IMPRESA OF QUEEN MARGARET OF NAVARRE IN LACIS.--(Mignerak.)]
Some curious pieces of ancient lacis were also exhibited (_circ._ 1866) at
the Museum of South Kensington by Dr. Bock, of Bonn. Among others, two
specimens of coloured silk network, the one ornamented with small
embroidered shields and crosses (Fig. 6), the other with the mediæval
gammadion pattern (Fig. 7). In the same collection was a towel or
altar-cloth of ancient German work--a coarse net ground, worked over with
the lozenge pattern.[74]
{24}But most artistic of all was a large ecclesiastical piece, some three
yards in length. The design portrays the Apostles, with angels and saints.
These two last-mentioned objects are of the sixteenth century.
When used for altar-cloths, bed-curtains, or coverlets, to produce a
greater effect it was the custom to alternate the lacis with squares of
plain linen.
"An apron set with many a dice
Of needlework sae rare,
Wove by nae hand, as ye may guess,
Save that of Fairly fair."
Ballad of Hardyknute.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.
"SPIDERWORK," THIRTEENTH CENTURY.--(Bock Coll. South Kensington Museum).]
[Illustration: Fig. 7.
"SPIDERWORK," FOURTEENTH CENTURY.--(Bock Coll. South Kensington Museum.)]
This work formed the great delight of provincial ladies in France. Jean
Godard, in his poem on the Glove,[75] alluding to this occupation, says:--
"Une femme gantée oeuvre en tapisserie
En raizeaux deliez et toute lingerie
Elle file--elle coud et fait passement
De toutes les fassons...."
The armorial shield of the family, coronets, monograms, the beasts of the
Apocalypse, with fleurs-de-lys, sacrés coeurs, for the most part adorned
those pieces destined for the use of the Church. If, on the other hand,
intended for a pall, death's-heads, cross-bones and tears, with the
sacramental cup, left no doubt of the destination of the article.
PLATE IV.
[Illustration: FAN MADE AT BURANO AND PRESENTED TO QUEEN ELENA OF ITALY ON
HER MARRIAGE, 1896.
Photo by the Burano School.]
PLATE V.
[Illustration: ITALIAN. PUNTO REALE.--Modern reproduction by the Society
Æmilia Ars, Bologna.
Photo by the Society.]
_To face page 24._
{25}As late as 1850, a splendid cut-work pall still covered the coffins of
the fishers when borne in procession through the streets of Dieppe. It is
said to have been a votive offering worked by the hands of some lady saved
from shipwreck, and presented as a memorial of her gratitude.
In 1866, when present at a peasant's wedding in the church of St. Lo (Dép.
Manche), the author observed that the "toile d'honneur," which is always
held extended over the heads of the married pair while the priest
pronounces the blessing, was of the finest cut-work, trimmed with lace.
Both in the north and south of Europe the art still lingers on. Swedish
housewives pierce and stitch the holiday collars of their husbands and
sons, and careful ladies, drawing the threads of the fine linen sheets
destined for the "guest-chamber," produce an ornament of geometric design.
Scarce fifty years since, an expiring relic of this art might be sometimes
seen on the white smock-frock of the English labourer, which, independent
of elaborate stitching, was enriched with an insertion of cut-work, running
from the collar to the shoulder crossways, like that we see decorating the
surplices of the sixteenth century.
Drawn-thread embroidery is another cognate work. The material in old
drawn-work is usually loosely-woven linen. Certain threads were drawn out
from the linen ground, and others left, upon and between which needlework
was made. Its employment in the East dates from very early times, and
withdrawing threads from a fabric is perhaps referred to in Lucan's
_Pharsalia_:--[76]
"Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo,
Quod Nilotis acus compressum pectine Serum
Solvit, et extenso laxavit stamina velo."
"Her white breasts shine through the Sidonian fabric, which pressed down
with the comb (or sley) of the Seres, the needle of the Nile workman has
separated, and has loosened the warp by stretching out (or withdrawing) the
weft."
{26}CHAPTER III.
LACE.
"Je demandai de la dentelle:
Voici le tulle de Bruxelles,
La blonde, le point d'Alençon,
Et la Maline, si légère;
L'application d'Angleterre
(Qui se fait à Paris, dit-on);
Voici la guipure indigène,
Et voici la Valenciennes,
Le point d'esprit, et le point de Paris;
Bref les dentelles
Les plus nouvelles
Que produisent tous les pays."
_Le Palais des Dentelles_ (Rothomago).
Lace[77] is defined as a plain or ornamental network, wrought of fine
threads of gold, silver, silk, flax, or cotton, interwoven, to which may be
added "poil de chèvre," and also the fibre of the aloe, employed by the
peasants of Italy and Spain. The term _lacez_ rendered in the English
translation of the Statutes[78] as "laces," implying braids, such as were
used for uniting the different parts of the dress, appears long before
lace, properly so called, came into use. The earlier laces, such as they
were, were defined by the word "passament"[79]--a general term for gimps
and braids, as well as for lace. Modern industry has separated these two
classes of work, but their being formerly so confounded renders it
difficult in historic researches to separate one from the other.
The same confusion occurs in France, where the first lace was called
_passement_, because it was applied to the same {27}use, to braid or lay
flat over the coats and other garments. The lace trade was entirely in the
hands of the "passementiers" of Paris, who were allowed to make all sorts
of "passements de dentelle sur l'oreiller aux fuseaux, aux épingles, et à
la main, d'or, d'argent, tant fin que faux, de soye, de fil blanc, et de
couleur," etc. They therefore applied the same terms to their different
products, whatever the material.
The word _passement_ continued to be in use till the middle of the
seventeenth century, it being specified as "passements aux fuseaux,"
"passements à l'aiguille"; only it was more specifically applied to lace
without an edge.
The term _dentelle_ is also of modern date, nor will it be found in the
earlier French dictionaries.[80] It was not till fashion caused the
passament to be made with a toothed edge that the expression of "passement
dentelé" first appears.
In the accounts of Henry II. of France, and his queen, we have frequent
notices of "passement jaulne dantellé des deux costez,"[81] "passement de
soye incarnat dentellé d'un costé,"[82] etc., etc., but no mention of the
word "dentelle." It does, however, occur in an inventory of an earlier
date, that of Marguerite de France, sister of Francis I., who, in 1545,
paid the sum of VI. livres "pour soixante aulnes, fine dantelle de Florance
pour mettre à des colletz."[83]
After a lapse of twenty years and more, among the articles furnished to
Mary Stuart in 1567, is "Une pacque de petite dentelle";[84] and this is
the sole mention of the word in all her accounts.
{28}We find like entries in the accounts of Henry IV.'s first queen.[85]
Gradually the passement dentelé subsided into the modern dentelle.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.
GRANDE DANTELLE AU POINT DEVANT L'AIGUILLE.--(Montbéliard, 1598.)]
It is in a pattern book, published at Montbéliard in 1598,[86] we first
find designs for "dantelles." It contains {29}twenty patterns, of all
sizes, "bien petites, petites" (Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12), "moyennes, et
grosses" (Fig. 8).
[Illustration: Fig. 9.
PETITE DANTELLE.--(1598.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.
PETITE DANTELLE.--(1598.)]
The word _dentelle_ seems now in general use; but Vecellio, in his
_Corona_, 1592, has "opere a mazette," pillow lace, and Mignerak first
gives the novelty of "passements au fuzeau," pillow lace (Fig. 13), for
which Vinciolo, in his edition of 1623, also furnishes patterns (Figs. 14
and 15); and Parasoli, 1616, gives designs for "merli a piombini" (Fig.
16).
[Illustration: Fig. 11.
PETITE DANTELLE.--(1598.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.
PETITE DANTELLE.--(1598.)]
In the inventory of Henrietta Maria, dated 1619,[87] appear a variety of
laces, all qualified under the name of "passement"; and in that of the
Maréchal La Motte, 1627, we find the term applied to every description of
lace.
{30}"Item, quatre paires de manchettes garnyes de passement, tant de
Venise, Gennes, et de Malines."[88]
Lace consists of two parts, the ground and the pattern.
The plain ground is styled in French _entoilage_, on account of its
containing the flower or ornament, which is called _toilé_, from the flat
close texture resembling linen, and also from its being often made of that
material or of muslin.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.
PASSEMENT AU FUSEAU.--(Mignerak, 1605.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 14.
PASSEMENT AU FUSEAU.--(Vinciolo, _Edition_ 1623.)]
The honeycomb network or ground, in French _fond_, _champ_,[89] _réseau_,
_treille_, is of various kinds: wire ground, Brussels ground, trolly
ground, etc., _fond clair_, _fond double_, etc.
{31}Some laces, points and guipures are not worked upon a ground; the
flowers are connected by irregular threads overcast (buttonhole stitch),
and sometimes worked over with pearl loops (picot). Such are the points of
Venice and Spain and most of the guipures. To these uniting threads, called
by our lace-makers "pearl ties"--old Randle Holme[90] styles them
"coxcombs"--the Italians give the name of "legs," the French that of
"brides."[91]
[Illustration: Fig. 15.
PASSEMENT AU FUSEAU.--(Vinciolo, _Edition_ 1623.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 16.
MERLETTI A PIOMBINI.--(Parasole, 1616.)]
The flower, or ornamental pattern, is either made together with the ground,
as in Valenciennes or Mechlin, or separately, and then either worked in or
sewn on (appliqué), as in Brussels.
The open-work stitches introduced into the pattern are called _modes_,
_jours_; by our Devonshire workers, "fillings."
All lace is terminated by two edges, the pearl, picot,[92] or couronne--a
row of little points at equal distances, and the footing or _engrêlure_--a
narrow lace, which serves to keep the stitches of the ground firm, and to
sew the lace to the garment upon which it is to be worn.
{32}Lace is divided into point and pillow (or more correctly bobbin) lace.
The term pillow gives rise to misconceptions, as it is impossible to define
the distinction between the "cushion" used for some needle-laces and the
"pillow" of bobbin-lace. The first is made by the needle on a parchment
pattern, and termed needle-point, _point à l'aiguille_, _punto in aco_.
The word is sometimes incorrectly applied to pillow-lace, as point de
Malines, point de Valenciennes, etc.
Point also means a particular kind of stitch, as point de Paris,[93] point
de neige, point d'esprit,[94] point à la Reine, point à carreaux, à
chaînette, etc.
"Cet homme est bien en points," was a term used to denote a person who wore
rich laces.[95]
The mention of point de neige recalls the quarrel of Gros René and
Marinette, in the _Dépit Amoureux_[96] of Molière:--
"Ton beau galant de neige,[97] avec ta nonpareille,
Il n'aura plus l'honneur d'être sur mon oreille."
Gros René evidently returns to his mistress his point de neige nightcap.
The manner of making bobbin lace on a pillow[98] need hardly be described.
The "pillow"[99] is a round or oval board, stuffed so as to form a cushion,
and placed upon the knees of the workwoman. On this pillow a stiff piece of
parchment is fixed, with small holes pricked through to mark the pattern.
Through these holes pins are stuck into the cushion. The threads with which
the lace is formed are wound upon "bobbins," formerly bones,[100] now small
round pieces of wood, about the size of a pencil, having round their upper
ends a deep groove, so formed as to reduce the bobbin to a thin neck, on
which the thread is wound, a separate bobbin being used for each thread.
PLATE VI.
[Illustration: ITALIAN.--Modern reproduction at Burano of Point de Venise à
la feuille et la rose, of seventeenth century.
Width, 8 in. Photo by the Burano School.]
PLATE VII.
[Illustration: Heraldic (carnival lace), was made in Italy. This appears to
be a specimen, though the archaic pattern points to a German origin. The
réseau is twisted and knotted. _Circ._ 1700. The Arms are those of a
Bishop.
Photo by A. Dryden from private collection.]
_To face page_ 32.
{33}By the twisting and crossing of these threads the ground of the lace is
formed. The pattern or figure, technically called "gimp," is made by
interweaving a thread much thicker than that forming the groundwork,
according to the design pricked out on the parchment.[101] Such has been
the pillow and the method of using it, with but slight variation, for more
than three centuries.
To avoid repetition, we propose giving a separate history of the
manufacture in each country; but in order to furnish some general notion of
the relative ages of lace, it may be as well to enumerate the kinds most in
use when Colbert, by his establishment of the Points de France, in 1665,
caused a general development of the lace manufacture throughout Europe.
The laces known at that period were:--
1. Point.--Principally made at Venice, Genoa, Brussels, and in Spain.
2. Bisette.--A narrow, coarse thread pillow lace of three qualities, made
in the environs of Paris[102] by the peasant women, principally for their
own use. Though proverbially of little value--"ce n'est que de la
bisette"[103]--it formed an article of traffic with the mercers and
lingères of the day.
3. Gueuse.--A thread lace, which owed to its simplicity {34}the name it
bore. The ground was network, the flowers a loose, thick thread, worked in
on the pillow. Gueuse was formerly an article of extensive consumption in
France, but, from the beginning of the last century, little used save by
the lower classes. Many old persons may still remember the term, "beggars'
lace."
4. Campane.[104]--A white, narrow, fine, thread pillow edging, used to sew
upon other laces, either to widen them, or to replace a worn-out picot or
pearl.
Campane lace was also made of gold, and of coloured silks, for trimming
mantles, scarfs, etc. We find, in the Great Wardrobe Accounts of George I.,
1714,[105] an entry of "Gold Campagne buttons."
Evelyn, in his "Fop's Dictionary," 1690, gives, "Campane, a kind of narrow,
pricked lace;" and in the "Ladies' Dictionary," 1694, it is described as "a
kind of narrow lace, picked or scalloped."[106]
In the Great Wardrobe Account of William III., 1688-9, we have "le poynt
campanie tæniæ."
5. Mignonette.[107]--A light, fine, pillow lace, called blonde de
fil,[108] also point de tulle, from the ground resembling that {35}fabric.
It was made of Lille thread, bleached at Antwerp, of different widths,
never exceeding two to three inches. The localities where it was
manufactured were the environs of Paris, Lorraine, Auvergne, and
Normandy.[109] It was also fabricated at Lille, Arras, and in Switzerland.
This lace was article of considerable export, and at times in high favour,
from its lightness and clear ground, for headdresses[110] and other
trimmings. It frequently appears in the advertisements of the last century.
In the _Scottish Advertiser_, 1769, we find enumerated among the
stock-in-trade, "Mennuet and blonde lace."
6. Point double, also called point de Paris and point des champs: point
double, because it required double the number of threads used in the single
ground; des champs, from its being made in the country.
7. Valenciennes.--See Chapter XV.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.
OLD MECHLIN.]
8. Mechlin.--All the laces of Flanders, with the exception of those of
Brussels and the point double, were known in commerce at this period under
the general name of Mechlin. (Fig. 17.)
9. Gold lace.
10. Guipure.
{36}GUIPURE.
Guipure, says Savary, is a kind of lace or passement made of "cartisane"
and twisted silk.
Cartisane is a little strip of thin parchment or vellum, which was covered
over with silk, gold, or silver thread, and formed the raised pattern.
The silk twisted round a thick thread or cord was called guipure,[111]
hence the whole work derived its name.[112]
Guipure was made either with the needle or on the pillow like other lace,
in various patterns, shades and colours, of different qualities and several
widths.
The narrowest guipures were called "Têtes de More."[113]
The less cartisane in the guipure, the more it was esteemed, for cartisane
was not durable, being only vellum covered over with silk. It was easily
affected by the damp, shrivelled, would not wash, and the pattern was
destroyed. Later, the parchment was replaced by a cotton material called
canetille.
Savary says that most of the guipures were made in the environs of
Paris;[114] that formerly, he writes in 1720, great quantities were
consumed in the kingdom; but since the fashion had passed away, they were
mostly exported to Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the Spanish Indies, where
they were much worn.[115]
Guipure was made of silk, gold and silver; from its costliness, therefore,
it was only worn by the rich.
PLATE VIII.
[Illustration: ITALIAN, VENETIAN, FLAT NEEDLE-POINT LACE. "PUNTO IN
ARIA."--The design is held together by plain "brides." Date, _circ._ 1645.
Width, 11-5/8 in.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
PLATE IX.
[Illustration: PORTION OF A BAND OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE REPRESENTING THE
STORY OF JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES.--The work is believed to be Italian, made
for a Portuguese, the inscription being in Portuguese. Date, _circ._ 1590.
Width, 8 in. The property of Mr. Arthur Blackborne.
Photo by A. Dryden.]
_To face page 36._
{37}At the coronation of Henry II. the front of the high altar is described
as of crimson velvet, enriched with "cuipure d'or"; and the ornaments,
chasuble, and corporaliers of another altar as adorned with a "riche
broderie de cuipure."[116]
On the occasion of Henry's entry into Paris, the king wore over his armour
a surcoat of cloth of silver ornamented with his ciphers and devices, and
trimmed with "guippures d'argent."[117]
In the reign of Henry III. the casaques of the pages were covered with
guipures and passements, composed of as many colours as entered into the
armorial bearings of their masters; and these silk guipures, of varied
hues, added much to the brilliancy of their liveries.[118]
Guipure seems to have been much worn by Mary Stuart. When the Queen was at
Lochleven, Sir Robert Melville is related to have delivered to her a pair
of white satin sleeves, edged with a double border of silver guipure; and,
in the inventory of her clothes taken at the Abbey of Lillebourg,[119]
1561-2, we find numerous velvet and satin gowns trimmed with "gumpeures" of
gold and silver.[120]
It is singular that the word guipure is not to be found in our English
inventories or wardrobe accounts, a circumstance which leads us to infer,
though in opposition to higher authorities, that guipure was in England
termed "parchment lace"--a not unnatural conclusion, since we know it was
sometimes called "dentelle à cartisane,"[121] from the slips of parchment
of which it was partly composed. Though Queen Mary would use the French
term, it does not seem to have been adopted in England, whereas "parchment
lace" is of frequent occurrence.
From the Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary,[122] we find she gives
to Lady Calthorpe a pair of sleeves of "gold, {38}trimmed with parchment
lace," a favourite donation of hers, it would appear, by the anecdote of
Lady Jane Grey.
"A great man's daughter," relates Strype[123] "(the Duke of Suffolk's
daughter Jane), receiving from Lady Mary, before she was Queen, goodly
apparel of tinsel, cloth of gold, and velvet, laid on with parchment lace
of gold, when she saw it, said, 'What shall I do with it?' Mary said,
'Gentlewoman, wear it.' 'Nay,' quoth she, 'that were a shame to follow my
Lady Mary against God's word, and leave my Lady Elizabeth, which followeth
God's word.'"
In the list of the Protestant refugees in England, 1563 to 1571,[124] among
their trades, it is stated "some live by making matches of hempe stalks,
and parchment lace."
Again, Sir Robert Bowes, "once ambassador to Scotland," in his inventory,
1553, has "One cassock of wrought velvet with p'chment lace of gold."[125]
"Parchment lace[126] of watchett and syllver at 7s. 8d. the ounce," appears
also among the laces of Queen Elizabeth.[127]
King Charles I. has his carpet bag trimmed with "broad parchment gold
lace,"[128] his satin nightcaps with gold and silver parchment laces,[129]
and even the bag and comb case "for his Majesty's barber" is decorated with
"silver purle and parchment lace."[130]
Again, Charles II. ornaments the seats on both sides the throne with silver
parchment lace.[131] In many of the inventories circ. 1590, "sylke
parchment lace" is noted down, and "red" and "green parchment lace," again,
appear among the wares found "in y^e Shoppes."[132]
But to return to the word guipure.
In an inventory of the Church of the Oratoire, at Paris, of the seventeenth
century, are veils for the host: one, "de {39}taffetas blanc garny d'une
guipure"; the other, "de satin blanc à fleurs, avec une dentelle de
guipure."[133]
These guipures will have also been of silk. When the term was first
transferred to the thread passements which are now called guipure, it is
difficult to say, for we can find no trace of it so applied.
Be that as it may, the thread guipures are of old date; many of the
patterns bear the character of the rich ornamentation and capricious
interlacings of the Renaissance; others, again, are "pur Louis Quatorze"
(Fig. 18). The finest thread guipures were the produce of Flanders and
Italy. They are most varied in their style. In some the bold flowing
patterns are united by brides; in others by a coarse réseau, often
circular, and called "round ground."
[Illustration: Fig. 18.
GUIPURE.--(Louis XIV.)]
In that class called by the lace-makers "tape guipure," the outline of the
flowers is formed by a pillow or handmade braid about the eighth of an inch
in width (Fig. 19).
{40}The term guipure is now so extensively applied it is difficult to give
a limit to its meaning. We can only define it as lace where the flowers are
either joined by "brides," or large coarse stitches, or lace that has no
ground at all. The modern Honiton and Maltese are guipures, so is the
Venetian point.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.
TAPE GUIPURE, BOBBIN-MADE.--(Genoa.)]
Most of these laces are enumerated in a _jeu d'esprit_, entitled "La
Révolte des Passemens," published at Paris in 1661.[134]
{41}In consequence of a sumptuary edict against luxury in apparel, Mesdames
les Broderies--