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LACE (corresponding to Ital. merletto...
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See also:LACE (corresponding to Ital. merletto, trina; Genoese See also:Pizzo; Ger. spitzen; Fr. dentelle; Dutch kanten; Span. encaje; the See also:English word owes something to the Fr. lassis or laces, but both are connected with the earlier See also:Lat. laqueus; See also:early See also:French laces were
also called passements or insertions and dents or edgings), the name applied to ornamental open See also:work formed of threads of See also:flax, See also:cotton, See also:silk, See also:gold or See also:silver, and occasionally of See also:mohair or See also:aloe fibre, looped or plaited or See also:twisted together by See also:hand, (I) with a See also:needle, when the work is distinctively known as " needlepoint See also:lace "; (2) with bobbins, pins and a See also:pillow or See also:cushion, when the work is known as " pillow lace "; and- (3) by See also:steam-driven machinery, when imitations of both needlepoint and pillow laces are produced
.
Lace-making implies the See also:production of See also:ornament and fabric concurrently
.
Without a See also:pattern or See also:design the fabric of lace cannot be made
.
The publication of patterns for needlepoint and pillow laces See also:dates from about the See also:middle of the 16th See also:century
.
Before that See also:period lace described such articles as cords and narrow braids of plaited and twisted threads, used not only to fasten shoes, sleeves and corsets together, but also in a decorative manner to See also:braid the See also:hair, to See also:wind See also:round hats, and to be sewn as trimmings upon costumes
.
In a Harleian MS. of the See also:time of See also: A " thynne lace " might be made with three threads, and then only fingers A, B, C would be required . A " round " lace, stouter than the "thynne " lace, might require the service of four or more fingers . By occasionally dropping the use of threads from certain fingers a sort of indented lace or braid might be made . But when laces of more importance were wanted, such as a broad lace for " hattys," the fingers on the hands of assistants were required . The smaller cords or " thynne laces," when fastened in See also:simple or fantastic loops along the edges of collars and cuffs, were called " purls " (see the small edge to the See also:collar worn by See also:Catherine de' See also:Medici, Pl . II. fig . 4) . In another direction from which some See also:suggestion may be derived as to the See also:evolution of lace-making, See also:notice should be taken of the fact that at an See also:early period the darning of varied ornamental devices, stiff and geometric in treatment into hand-made network of small square meshes (see squares of " lacis," Pl . I. fig . 1) became specialized in many See also:European countries . This is held by some writers to be "See also:opus filatorium," or " opus araneum " (spider work) . Examples of this " opus filatorium," said to date from the 13th century exist in public collections .
The productions of this darning in the early See also:part of the 16th century came to be known as " punto a maglia quadra " in See also:Italy and as " lacis " in See also:France, and through a growing demand for See also:household and wearing See also:linen, very much of the " lacis " was made in See also: The See also:close connexion of the Venetian See also:republic with See also:Greece and the eastern islands, as well as its commercial relations with the See also:East, sufficiently explains an early transplanting of this See also:kind of embroidery into See also:Venice, as well as in See also:southern Spain . At Venice besides being called " reticella," cut work was also called " punto tagliato." Once fairly established as See also:home See also:industries such arts were quickly exploited with a beauty and variety of pattern, complexity of stitch and delicacy of See also:execution, until insertions and edgings made independently of any linen as a starting See also:base (see first two borders, Pl . II. fig . 3) came into being under the name of " Punto in See also:aria " (Pl . II. fig . 7) . This was the first variety of Venetian and See also:Italian needlepoint lace in the middle of the 16th century,' and its appearance then almost coincides in date with that of the " merletti a piombini," which was the earliest Italian cushion or pillow lace (see lower edging, PI . II. fig . 3) . The many varieties of needlepoint and pillow laces will be The prevalence of See also:fashion in the above-mentioned sorts of embroidery during the 16th century is marked by the number of pattern-books then published . In Venice a work of this class was issued by Alessandro Pagannino in 1527; another of a similar nature, printed by See also:Pierre Quinty, appeared in the same See also:year at See also:Cologne; and La Fleur de la See also:science de pourtraicture et patrons de broderie, facon arabicque et ytalique, was published at See also:Paris in 1530 . From these early dates until the beginning of the 17th century pattern-books for embroidery in Italy, France, See also:Germany and See also:England were published in See also:great abundance .
The designs contained•in many of those dating from the early 16th century were to be worked for costumes and hangings, and consisted of scrolls, arabesques, birds, animals, See also:flowers, foliage, herbs and See also:grasses
.
So far, however, as their See also:reproduction as laces might be concerned, the execution of complicated work was involved which none but practised lace-workers, such as those who arose a century later, could be expected to undertake.touched on under the heading allotted to each of these methods of making lace
.
Here, however, the general circumstances of their See also:genesis may be briefly alluded to
.
The activity in cord and braid-making and in the particular sorts of ornamental See also:needlework already mentioned clearly postulated such See also:special labour as was capable of being converted into lace-making
.
And from the 16th century onwards the stimulus to the See also:industry in See also:Europe was afforded by See also:regular See also:trade demand, coupled with the exertions of those who encouraged their dependents oY proteges to give their spare time to remunerative home occupations
.
Thus the origin and perpetuation of the industry have come to be associated with the See also:women folk of peasants and fishermen in circumstances which See also:present little dissimilarity whether in regard to needle lace workers now making lace in whitewashed cottages and cabins at See also:Youghal and Kenmare in the See also:south of See also:Ireland, or those who produced their " punti in aria " during the 16th century about the lagoons of Venice, or See also:French-women who made the sumptuous " Points de France " at See also:Alencon and elsewhere in the 17th and 18th centuries; or pillow lace workers to be seen at the present See also:day at little seaside villages tucked away in See also:Devonshire dells, or those who were engaged more than four See also:hundred years ago in "merletti a piombini " in Italian villages or on " Dentelles au fuseau " in Flemish See also:low-lands
.
The ornamental See also:character, however, of these several laces would be found to differ much; but methods, materials, appliances and opportunities of work would in the See also:main be alike
.
As fashion in wearing laces extended, so workers came to be drawn together into See also:groups by employers who acted as channels for general trade.2 Nuns in the past as in the present have also devoted See also:attention to the industry, often providing in the See also:convent precincts workrooms not only for See also:peasant women to carry out commissions in the service of the See also:
Notwithstanding more convincing See also:evidence as to the earlier development of. pillow lace making in Italy the invention of pillow lace is often credited to the Flemings; but there is no distinct trace of the time or the locality
.
In a picture said to exist in the church of St Gomar at See also:Lierre, and sometimes attributed to Quentin See also:Matsys (1495), is introduced a girl apparently working at some sort of lace with pillow, bobbins, &c., which are somewhat similar to the implements in use in more See also:recent times.4 From the very See also:infancy of Flemish art an active intercourse was maintained between the Low Countries and the great centres of Italian art; and it is therefore only what might be expected that the wonderful examples of the art and handiwork of Venice in lace-making should soon have come to be known to and rivalled among the equally industrious, thriving and artistic Flemings
.
At the end of the 16th century pattern-books were issued in Flanders having the same general character as those published for the guidance of the Venetian and other Italian lace-makers
.
2 A very See also:complete See also:account of how these conditions began and See also:developed at Alencon, for instance, is given in Madame Despierre's Histoire du Point d'Alencon (1886) to which is appended an interesting and annotated See also:list of merchants, designers and makers of Point d'Alencon
.
3 E.g
.
The See also:family of Camusat at Alencon from 1602 until 1795
.
4 The picture, however, as Seguin has pointed out, was probably painted some See also:thirty years later, and by See also:Jean Matsys
.
France and England were not far behind Venice and Flanders done on a pillow or cushion and with the needle, in the style
in making needle and pillow lace
.
Henry III. of France (1574— of the laces made at Venice, See also:Genoa, See also:Ragusa and other places;
these French imitations were to be called " points de France."
By 1671 the Italian See also:ambassador at Paris writes, " Gallantly
is the See also:minister See also:Colbert on his way to bring the `lavori d'aria' to
perfection." Six years later an Italian, Domenigo See also:Contarini,
alludes to the " punto in aria," " which the French can now
do to admiration." The styles of design which emanated from
the See also:chief of the French lace centre, Alengon, were more fanciful
1589) appointed a Venetian, See also:Frederic Vinciolo, pattern maker for varieties of linen needle See also:works and laces to his See also:court
.
Through the See also:influence of this fertile designer the seeds of a See also:taste for lace in France were principally sown
.
But the event which See also:par excellence would seem to have fostered the higher development of the French art of lace-making was the aid officially given it in the following century by See also: Il l III II III ! I III!Ilifl' lllipl'See also:lll I I IIIIII!II!IIIIIII!VIIIIJIIIIIilllll11011l;!IIIII!II IIIIIIIII11 . ~ .._ . ,. t; ~7 a:~^'t~ ~ .._. a ::~'-~ ~ ~ ._ . ~t ~-:~'~5~/ ~.•~f . ~~A '.~>~~~, a; f_ r .// . •'~~\: of his minister Colbert . Intrigue and See also:diplomacy were put into See also:action to secure the services of Venetian lace-workers; and by an See also:edict dated 1665 the lace-making centres at Alencon, Quesnoy, See also:Arras, See also:Reims, See also:Sedan, See also:Chateau See also:Thierry, See also:Loudun and elsewhere were selected for the operations of a See also:company in aid of which the See also:state made a contribution of 36,000 francs; at the same time the importation of Venetian, Flemish and other laces was strictly forbidden.' The edict contained instructions that the lace-makers should produce all sorts of thread work, such as those See the poetical skit Rerolte See also:des passements et broderies, written by Mademoiselle de la Tousse, See also:cousin of Madame de See also:Sevigne, in the middle of the 17th century, which marks the favour which See also:foreign laces at that time commanded amongst the leaders of French fashion.18th century, " Point de France." The See also:honeycomb ground is See also:con= fillings are made in the manner of the " Point d'Alencon " reseau . and less severe than the Venetian, and it is evident that the Flemish lace-makers later on adopted many of these French patterns for their own use . The See also:provision of French designs (fig . 24) which owes so much to the state patronage, contrasts with the See also:absence of corresponding provision in England and was noticed early in the 18th century by See also:Bishop See also:Berkeley . " How," he asks, " could France and Flanders have drawn so much See also:money from other countries for figured silk, lace and See also:tapestry, if they had not had their See also:academies of design?" It is fairly evident too that the French laces themselves, known as " bisette," " gueuse," " campane " and " See also:mignonette," were small and comparatively insignificant works, without pretence to design . The humble endeavours of peasantry in England (which could boast of no schools of design), Germany, See also:Sweden, See also:Russia and Spain could not result in work of so high artistic pretension as that of France and Flanders . In the 18th century See also:good lace was made in Devonshire, but it is only in recent years that to some extent the hand lace-makers of England and Ireland have become impressed with the See also:necessity of well-considered designs for their work . Pillow lace making under the name of " See also:bone lace making " was pursued in the 17th century in See also:Buckingham-See also:shire, See also:Hertfordshire and See also:Bedfordshire, and in 1724 See also:Defoe refers to the manufacture of bone lace in which villagers were " wonder-fully exercised and improved within these few. years past." " Bone " lace dates from the 17th century in England and was practically the counterpart of Flemish " dentelles au fuseau," and related also to the Italian " merletti a piombini " (see Pl. fig . 1o) . In Germany, See also:Barbara Uttmann, a native of See also:Nuremberg, instructed peasants of the Harz mountains to twist and See also:plait threads in 1561 . She was assisted by certain refugees from Flanders . A sort of " purling " or See also:imitation of the Italian " merletti a piombini " was the style of work produced then . Lace of comparatively simple design has been made for centuries in villages of See also:Andalusia as well as in See also:Spanish conventual establishments . The " point d'Espagne," however, appears to have been a commercial name given by French manufacturers of a class of lace made in France with gold or silver threads on the pillow and greatly esteemed by Spaniards in the 17th century . No lace pattern-books have been found to have been published in Spain . The needle-made laces which came out of Spanish monasteries in 183o, when these institutions were dissolved, were mostly Venetian needle-made laces . The lace See also:vestments preserved at the See also:cathedral at See also:Granada hitherto presumed to be of Spanish work are verified as being Flemish of the 17th century (similar in style to Pl. fig . 14) . The industry is not alluded to in Spanish ordinances of the 15th, 16th or 17th centuries, but traditions which throw its origin back to the See also:Moors or See also:Saracens are still current in See also:Seville and its neighbourhood, where a twisted and knotted arrangement of See also:fine cords is often worked' under the name of " Morisco " fringe, elsewhere called macrame lace . See also:Black and white silk pillow laces, or " blondes," date from the 18th century . They were made in considerable quantity in the neighbourhood of See also:Chantilly, and imported for mantillas by Spain, where corresponding silk lace making was started . Although after the 18th century the making of silk laces more or less ceased at Chantilly and the neighbourhood, the See also:craft is now carried on in See also:Normandy—at See also:Bayeux and See also:Caen—as well as in See also:Auvergne, which is also noted for its simple " torchon " laces . Silk pillow lace making is carried on in Spain, especially at See also:Barcelona . The patterns are almost entirely imitations from 18th-century French ones of a large and See also:free floral character . Lace-making is said to have been promoted in Russia through the patronage of the court, after the visit of See also:Peter the Great to Paris in the early days of the 18th century . Peasants in the districts of See also:Vologda, Balakhua (Nijni-See also:Novgorod), Bieleff (See also:Tula) and Mzensk (See also:Orel) make pillow laces of simple patterns . See also:Malta is noted for producing a silk pillow lace of black or white, or red threads, chiefly of patterns in which repetitions of circles, wheels and radiations of shapes resembling grains of See also:wheat are the main features . This characteristic of design, appearing in white linen thread laces of similar make which have been identified as Genoese pillow laces of the early 17th century, reappears in Spanish and Paraguayan work . Pillow lace in imitation of Maltese, See also:Buckinghamshire and Devonshire laces is made to a small extent in See also:Ceylon, in different parts of See also:India and in See also:Japan . A successful effort has also been made to re-establish the industry in the See also:island of See also:Burano near Venice, and pillow and needlepoint lace of good design is made there . At present the chief See also:sources of hand-made lace are France, See also:Belgium, Ireland and England . France is faithful to her traditions in maintaining a lively 1 Useful See also:information has been communicated to the writer of the present See also:article on lace by Mrs B . See also:Wishaw of Seville . and graceful taste in lace-making . Fashion of See also:late years has called for ampler and more boldly effective laces, readily produced with both braids and cords and far less intricate needle or pillow work than was required for the dainty and smaller laces of earlier date . In Belgium the social and economic conditions are, as they have been in the past, more conducive and more favourable than elsewhere to lace-making at a sufficiently remunerative See also:rate of See also:wages . The production of hand-made laces in Belgium was in 19oo greater than that of France . The See also:principal See also:modern needle-made lace of Belgium is the " Point de Gaze "; " Duchesse " and See also:Bruges laces are the .chief pillow-made laces; whilst " Point Applique " and " Plat Applique " are frequently the results not only of combining needle-made and pillow work, but also of using them in See also:conjunction with See also:machine-made net . Ireland is the best producer of that substantial looped-thread work known as crochet (see See also:figs . 25, 26, 27), which must be regarded as a hand-made lace fabric although not classifiable as a needlepoint or pillow lace . It is also quite distinct in character from pseudo-laces, which are really embroideries with a lace-like appearance, e.g. embroideries on net, cut and embroidered cambrics and fine linen .
For such as these Ireland maintains a reputation in its admirable See also:Limerick and See also:Carrickmacross laces, made not only in Limerick and Carrickmacross, but also
fordshire and See also:Northampton, but it is bought almost wholly for home use
.
The See also:English laces are made almost entirely in accordance with the precedents of the 19th century—that is to say, in definite lengths and widths, as for borders, insertions and flounces, although large shaped articles, such as panels for dresses, See also:long sleeves complete skirts, jackets, blouses, and fancifully shaped collars of considerable dimensions have of late been freely made elsewhere
.
To make such things entirely of lace necessitates many modifications in the See also:ordinary methods; the English lace-workers are slow to adapt their work in the manner requisite, and hence are far behind in the See also:race to See also:respond to the fashionable demand
.
No countries succeed so well in promptly answering the variable See also:call of fashion as France and Belgium
.
As regards trade in lace, See also:America probably See also:buys more from Belgium than from France; France and England come next as purchasers of nearly equal quantities, after which come Russia and Italy
.
The greatest amount of lace now made is that which issues from See also:machines in England, France and Germany
.
The See also:total number of persons employed in the lace industry in England in 1871 was 49,370, and in 1901 about 34,929, of whom not more than 5000 made lace by hand
.
The early See also:history' of the lace-making machine coincides with that of the See also:stocking See also:frame, that machine having been adapted about the year 1768 for producing open-looped fabrics which had a net-like appearance
.
About 1786 frames for making point nets by machinery first appear at See also:Mansfield and later at See also:Ashbourne and See also:Nottingham and soon afterwards modifications were introduced into such frames in See also:order to make varieties of meshes in the point nets which were classed as figured nets
.
In 18o8 and 1809 See also:
But it was the application of the celebrated See also:jacquard apparatus to such machines that enabled manufacturers to produce all sorts of patterns in thread-work in imitation of the patterns for hand-made lace
.
A French machine called the " dentelliere " was devised (see La Nature for the 3rd of See also: Devonshire, See also:Buck-FIG. mghamshire, See also:Bed-by the ornaments or patterns, which may be so designed, as they were in the earlier laces, that the different component parts may See also:touch one another without any intervening ground-work . But as a wish arose to vary the effect of the details in a pattern ground-works were gradually developed and at first consisted of links or ties between the substantial parts of the pattern: The bars or ties were succeeded by grounds of meshes, like nets . Sometimes the substantial parts of a pattern were outlined with a single thread or by a strongly marked raised edge of buttonhole-stitched or of plaited work . See also:Minute fanciful devices were then introduced to enrich various portions of the pattern . Some of the heavier needle-made laces resemble low See also:relief See also:carving in See also:ivory, and the edges of the relief portions are often decorated with clusters of small loops . For the most part all this elaboration was brought to a high See also:pitch of variety and finish by French designers and workers; and French terms are more usual in speaking of details in laces . Thus the solid part of the pattern is called the toile or clothing, the links or ties are called brides, the See also:meshed grounds are called reseaux, the outline to the edges of a pattern is called cordonnet or brode, the insertions of fanciful devices modes, the little loops picots . These terms are applicable to the various portions of laces made with the needle, on the pillow or by the machine . The sequence of patterns in lace (which may be verified upon referring to figs . I to 23) is roughly as follows . From about 1540 to 1590 they were composed of geometric forms set within squares, or of crossed and radiating See also:line devices, resulting in a very open fabric, stiff and almost wiry in effect, without brides or reseaux . From 1590 may be dated the introduction into patterns of very conventional floral and even human and See also:animal forms and slender scrolls, rendered in a tape-like texture, held together by brides . To the period from 1620 to 1670 belongs the development of long continuous See also:scroll patterns with reseaux and brides, accompanied in the See also:case of needle-made laces with an elaboration of details, e.g. cordonnet with massings of picots . Much of these laces enriched with fillings or modes was made at this time . From 165o to 1700 the scroll patterns gave way to arrangements of detached ornamental details (as in Pl . VI. fig . 22): and about 1700 to 1760 more important schemes or designs were made (as in Pl. fig . 19, and in fig . 24 in See also:text), into which were introduced naturalistic renderings of garlands, flowers, birds, trophies, architectural ornament and human figures . Grounds composed entirely of varieties of modes as in the case of the reseau rosace (Pl . V. fig . 21) were sometimes made then . From 176o to 'Soo small details consisting of bouquets, sprays of flowers, single flowers, leaves, buds, spots and such like were adopted, and sprinkled over meshed grounds, and the character of the texture was gauzy and filmy (as in figs . 40 and 42) . Since that time variants of the foregoing styles of pattern and textures have been used according to the See also:bent of fashion in favour of simple or complex ornamentation, or of stiff, compact or filmy textures . Needlepoint Lace.—The way in which the early Venetian " punto in aria " was made corresponds with that in which needlepoint lace is now worked . The pattern is first drawn upon a piece of See also:parchment . The parchment is then stitched to two pieces of linen . Upon the leading lines drawn on the parchment a thread is laid, and fastened through to the parchment and linen by means of stitches, thus constructing a See also:skeleton thread pattern (see See also:left- hand part of fig . 30) . Those portions which are to be represented as the " clothing " or toile are usually worked as indicated in the ens Urged See also:diagram (fig. s9), and then edged as a See also:rule with buttonhole stitching (fig . 28) . Between these toile portions of the pattern are worked ties (brides) or meshes (reseaux), and thus the various parts See also:united into one fabric are wrought on to the See also:face of the parchment pattern and reproducing it (see right-hand part of fig . 30) . A See also:knife is passed between the two pieces of linen at the back of the parchment, cutting the stitches which have passed through the parchment and linen, and so releasing the lace itself from its pattern parchment . In the earlier stages, the lace was made in lengths to serve as insertions (passements) and also in vandykes (dentelles) more complete lace is on the right .See also:half of the pattern . to serve as edgings . Later on insertions and vandykes were made in one piece . All of such were at first of a geometric style of pattern (PI. figs . 3-5 and 6) . Following closely upon them came the freer style of design already mentioned, without and then with links or ties —brides— interspersed betw |