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.
[K] Dr. Franz Bock, "Die textilen Byssus," Aachen, 1895.
[L] Ezechiel, xxvii. 7.
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.
"Elle adonnait son courage
A faire maint bel ouvrage
Dessus la toile et encore a
Joindre la soie et or."
"Vous d'un pareil exercice
Mariez par artifice
Dessus la toile a maint tract
L'or et la soie en pourtract."
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.
[M] Manuscript in "Bibliothèque Nationale." MS. FF2, 10,394.
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]
[N] Bibliothèque Nationale, "Lettres à Colbert," vol. 132, fo. 14
bis.
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.