Chapter VIII: Introduction (1)

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.

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.

To confirm this, I need only instance the fact that these, and other earliest known specimens of lacis and linen lace existing, are almost identical in design with the forms familiar to us from the discoveries in Coptic tombs in Egypt from the first and third centuries onwards. These designs, simple and formal as they appear, are really full of meaning. Mr. Albert Gayet has pointed out, in his history of Coptic art, that the law of polygonal evolution only completed in the eleventh century the course it had steadfastly pursued from the beginning. He continues: "It seems a far cry from the early Greek tradition to this time. But the Coptic artist was never in sympathy with the Greek striving towards realism. He wished to express, not the image itself, but the impression conveyed by the image. He preferred the thought to the concrete form. The divine idea, which to the Greek must mean a precise representation, he prefers to render quite otherwise. The fidelity of the Coptic artist to this polygony renders it the key to all his art. His first efforts are blunders, but he is not discouraged, he continues without hesitation to follow his ideal. He finds in the philosophy of the polygon the impression he wishes to convey of the ideal and the invisible. His composition, according to the Gnostic definition, has its secret side, hidden under the emblem shown, while the emblem shown has also a hidden side. Then by the superposition of _entrelacs_, or strap-work, he conveys the idea of evolution, or things (mysteries) turning and repeating themselves indefinitely, but always in an inflexible circle." For example, a number of star-centred octagons, formed by a network of lines, will have a cross in the centre--other little crosses may be traced in each star--and in the arabesques of the corners crosses may also be found. "Everywhere, even in the most closely packed work, this symbol can be found; the most abstract geometrical combinations are still subject to the same system. Polygony places everywhere and always the sign of the Faith."[G]

[G] Gayet, A., "L'art Copte." Paris, 1902.

I must also make a quotation from the learned Dr. Rock, which, though written nearly forty years ago, is so apposite while considering this beautiful lacework from Assisi and its Eastern derivation.

Strengthening our idea that the old Egyptians had borrowed the cross as a spell against evil, and a symbol of eternal life, is a passage set forth by Rufinus, A.D. 397, and by Socrates B.C. 440.

"On demolishing at Alexandria a temple dedicated to Serapis, were observed several stones sculptured with letters called hieroglyphics, which showed the figures of a cross. Certain Gentile inhabitants of the city who had lately been converted to the Christian faith, initiated in the method of interpreting these enigmatic characters, declared that the figure of the cross was considered as the symbol of future life."[H]

[H] "Hist. Eccles.," lib. v., c. 17.

"We know that modifications of the form of the cross have been found on monuments already discovered; others may turn up with the so-called 'gammadion' found upon Egyptian stuff of such an early date. The recurrence of the gammadion upon Christian monuments is curious. It is shown in the catacombs, and in numerous later instances. Christianity widened the meaning of this symbol and made it teach the doctrine of the Atonement of Calvary, and that Christ is our corner-stone. In the thirteenth century it was taken to be an apt memorial of His five wounds and, remembering the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi, this gammadion became the favourite device of such as bore that Saint's name."[I]

[I] Dr. Rock, "Introduction to Textile Fabrics at South Kensington
Museum" (Chapman and Hall, 1870), p. cxxxix.

No less than twenty varieties of these polygonal ornaments, many of them introducing the gammadion, are to be found in the lacework of the Assisi alb. _See_ Plate 3.

The tradition mentioned by Dr. Rock of the device of the gammadion being identified with St. Francis may, I think, have originated in the circumstance of his having worn this alb. In Plate 6 I give two examples of early Italian punto reale of the same kind although very inferior in variety and in workmanship, but in most of these early "cartiglia," as this work is called in Italy, the polygonal idea is still predominant.

The other complete alb is also of linen lace, and is said to have been worn by Pope Boniface VIII. in 1298. (_See_ Plate 2.) It is preserved in the Treasury of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where I had an opportunity of examining it closely and of obtaining the technical details I give. As to its possible history I may note that St. Nilos and his monks were driven from the East by the Saracens at the end of the tenth century, and came to Italy, where they were welcomed by Pope Gregory V. He established them in the monastery a few miles from Rome, where their successors still worship with their Eastern rites. The famous alb may have been brought by these very monks or those who followed them from the East.[J]

[J] "The Pope, Gregory V. (996-999), and the Western Emperor, Otho
III. (993-1002), who was then also at Rome, went out to meet the
strangers beyond the walls, and received them with all possible
honour and respect. And out there in the Campagna, at Grottaferrata,
St. Nilos at last built a home for his monks, and there he died.
Grottaferrata has stood unchanged till now, no Pope has tried to
destroy or Latinise it; after ten centuries, its monks sing out
their Greek office in the very heart of the Latin Patriarchate,
while outside the Latin olives shelter its Byzantine walls."--"The
Orthodox Eastern Church," Adrian Fortescue, D.D. London, 1907.

Then, as now, specimens of the world's treasures of art and handicraft 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.