CHATS ON OLD LACE
AND NEEDLEWORK

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BOOKS FOR COLLECTORS

With Frontispieces and many Illustrations
Large Crown 8vo, cloth.

CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA.
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE.
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON OLD PRINTS.
(How to collect and value Old Engravings.)
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON COSTUME.
By G. Woolliscroft Rhead.

CHATS ON OLD LACE AND NEEDLEWORK.
By E. L. Lowes.

CHATS ON ORIENTAL CHINA.
By J. F. Blacker.

CHATS ON OLD MINIATURES.
By J. J. Foster, F.S.A.

CHATS ON ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON AUTOGRAPHS.
By A. M. Broadley.

CHATS ON PEWTER.
By H. J. L. J. Massé, M.A.

CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS.
By Fred. J. Melville.

CHATS ON OLD JEWELLERY AND TRINKETS.
By MacIver Percival.

CHATS ON COTTAGE AND FARMHOUSE FURNITURE.
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON OLD COINS.
By Fred. W. Burgess

CHATS ON OLD COPPER AND BRASS.
By Fred. W. Burgess.

CHATS ON HOUSEHOLD CURIOS.
By Fred. W. Burgess.

CHATS ON OLD SILVER.
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON JAPANESE PRINTS.
By Arthur Davison Ficke.

CHATS ON MILITARY CURIOS.
By Stanley C. Johnson.

CHATS ON OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES.
By Arthur Hayden.

CHATS ON ROYAL COPENHAGEN PORCELAIN.
By Arthur Hayden.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD.
NEW YORK: F. A. STOKES COMPANY

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MARY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE.

Born about 1555. Died 1621.
Buried at Salisbury Cathedral.
Painted probably by Marc Gheeraedts.

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Chats on Old Lace
and Needlework

BY

MRS. LOWES

WITH 76 ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD.
ADELPHI TERRACE

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First Impression 1908
Second Impression 1912
Third Impression 1919

[All rights reserved.]

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PREFACE

This little book has been compiled to emphasise and accentuate the distinct awakening of English women and Needlecraft Artists to the beauty of the ancient laces and embroideries which we own in the magnificent historic collections in our great public Museums.

We are fortunate in possessing in the Victoria and Albert Museum monumental specimens of both lace and needlework. Among the sumptuous lace collection there are most perfect specimens of the art of lace-making, and priceless pieces of historic embroidery made when England was first and foremost in the world in the production of Ecclesiastical embroidery.

The lace collection particularly, without compare, is illustrative of all that is best in this delightful art, being specially rich in magnificent pieces that can never be again obtained. These have mostly been given, or left as legacies, to the Museum by collectors and enthusiasts who have made this fascinating hobby the quest of their lives. In addition to the collection formed by the generosity of the donors, the authorities have exercised a very catholic judgment in selecting the choicest and most illustrative examples of the lace-maker's craft.

In the section devoted to embroideries, more particularly English (as it is with our own country's needlework I propose to deal), nothing more glorious in the Nation's art records can be found than the masterpieces of embroidery worked by the great ladies, the abbesses and nuns of the Mediæval period. In almost every other branch of art England has been equalled, if not excelled, by Continental craftsmen; but in this one instance, up to the Reformation, English work was sought after far and wide, and as opus Anglicum formed part of church furnishing and priestly vestments in every great cathedral in Italy, Spain, and France.

It cannot be too soon realised that, as with old furniture, porcelain, and silver, much of the finest embroideries of England, and a vast quantity of the ancient laces of Italy, France, and Belgium are being slowly but surely carried off to the New World. American dollars are doing much to rob not only the Old Country of the fairest flowers of her garden, but the Continent of their finest and best examples of the genius of the past. The Vanderbilts and the Astors, among others, possess immense fortunes in lace, whilst that omnivorous collector Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan gives fabulous sums for any fine old relic of embroidery. Many pieces of both classes of needlecraft have found a permanent home in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and are lost for ever to the English student.

It is, therefore, a pleasant duty to add my little quota of information to the study of these fascinating and exquisite branches of fine art which so specially appeal to all women by their dainty grace and delightful handicraft. I hope I may arouse some little enthusiasm in my countrywomen in the study of the past glories of both subjects, and in the possibility of once again becoming first and foremost in the latter branch.

I beg to acknowledge the pleasure and help I have received from the perusal of the late Mrs. Bury Palliser's exhaustive "History of Lace," and Lady Alford's "History of Needlework," and Dr. Rock's invaluable books on "Ecclesiastical Embroidery."

EMILY LEIGH LOWES.

Hillcrest,
Brixton Hill,

class="c13">S.W.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

LACE.

NEEDLEWORK.

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CONTENTS

align="left">CHAPTER PAGE I. OLD ENGLISH EMBROIDERY 205 II. THE GREAT PERIOD 217 III. ECCLESIASTICAL EMBROIDERIES AND VESTMENTS 229 IV. TUDOR EMBROIDERIES 245 V. EARLY NEEDLEWORK PICTURES AND ACCESSORIES 253 VI. STUART CASKETS AND MIRROR 267 VII. EMBROIDERED BOOKS AND "BLACK WORK" 275 VIII. STUART PICTURES 289 IX. SAMPLERS 305 X. THE WILLIAM AND MARY EMBROIDERIES 317 XI. PICTORIAL NEEDLEWORK OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 331 XII. NEEDLEWORK PICTURES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 347 XIII. EMBROIDERY IN COSTUME 355 XIV. SALE PRICES 365 XV. CONCLUSION 373 INDEX—OLD LACE 381 NEEDLEWORK 384

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

align="left">ORIGINAL DESIGNS OF RETICELLA EDGINGS BY VINCIOLA 31 CHART OF NEEDLEPOINT RÉSEAUX 36 CHART OF PILLOW RÉSEAUX 39 VENETIAN ROSE POINT 43 VENETIAN ROSE POINT COLLAR 48 EXAMPLES OF FLAT VENETIAN POINT 51 MARIE DE MEDICIS WEARING VENETIAN POINT COLLAR 52 EXAMPLE OF GROS POINT DE VENICE 55 LOUIS XIII. WEARING GENOESE COLLAR LACE 60 GENOESE COLLAR LACE 63 MILANESE LACE 67 OLD ITALIAN AND FRENCH LACES AND CUT AND DRAWN WORK 72 "POINT DE FRANCE" 75 POINT D'ALENÇON 76 "POINT DE FRANCE" AND D'ARGENTELLA 79 POINT D'ARGENTAN AND POINT D'ARGENTELLA 83 VALENCIENNES 88 "LILLE" 91 EMPRESS EUGENIE WEARING BLONDE LACE 95 POINT D'ANGLETERRE 102 POINT D'ANGLETERRE LAPPET 105 BRUSSELS LACE 109 BRUSSELS LAPPET 113 COMTESSE D'ARTOIS WEARING BRUSSELS LACE 117 MARIE ANTOINETTE 122 MECHLIN LAPPET 125 MARIE ANTOINETTE WEARING MECHLIN LACE 129 "DUCHESSE" LACE 135 QUEEN ELIZABETH WEARING VENETIAN POINT RUFF AND CUFFS 141 EDMUND SPENSER: COLLAR TRIMMED WITH RETICELLA 145 RETICELLA FALLING COLLAR 149 COLLAR OF GROS POINT 153 OLD BUCKINGHAM AND EARLY DEVONSHIRE LACES 159 OLD HONITON LACE 163

align="left">MODERN HONITON LACE 167 LIMERICK "FILLINGS" 173 CARRICK-MA-CROSS LACE 177 RETICELLA WITH GENOA BORDERS 182 POINT D'ANGLETERRE 185 ITALIAN ECCLESIASTICAL LACE 189 BRUSSELS LAPPET 193 "POINT DE GAZE" 197 NEEDLEWORK EGYPTIAN EMBROIDERY 208 BAYEUX TAPESTRY 211 KING HAROLD FROM BAYEUX TAPESTRY 215 FRAGMENT FROM THE "JESSE" COPE 221 THE "SYON" COPE 225 THE STEEPLE ASTON ALTAR FRONTAL 232 THE "NEVIL" ALTAR FRONTAL 235 DIAGRAM SHOWING USE OF VESTMENTS 239 SET OF ECCLESIASTICAL VESTMENTS 243 EARLY "PETIT POINT" PICTURE 256 EARLY "PETIT POINT" PICTURE 259 STUART GLOVE 263 STUART MIRROR FRAME 271 STUART BOOK COVER 278 QUEEN ELIZABETH'S POCKET-BOOK 281 "BLACK WORK" CAP 285 EMBROIDERY PORTRAIT OF KING CHARLES I. 293 STUMP-WORK PICTURE 297 "PETIT POINT" PICTURE WORKED ON SATIN 301 A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY "SAMPLER" 309 EARLY ENGLISH "SAMPLER" 313 JACOBEAN HANGINGS 319 ENLARGEMENT OF SPRAY FROM HANGINGS 323 QUEEN ANNE PICTURE 327 EARLY GEORGIAN PICTURE 334 "THE LAST SUPPER" 337 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SILK EMBROIDERED PICTURE

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@26120@[email protected]#Page_341" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">341 BLACK SILK AND HAIR PICTURE 345 A "GAINSBOROUGH" PICTURE 361

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I

A BRIEF
HISTORY
OF LACE

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CHATS ON OLD LACE

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I

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LACE

In every other art or craft we can search the history of ages and find some vestiges or beginnings among the earlier civilisations. Possibly owing to the exquisite fragility of Lace, there is a complete absence of data earlier than that of Egypt. The astonishing perfection in art handicrafts of all descriptions which we find in China many hundreds of years before the Christian era shows no vestiges of a manufacture of lace; but, in the tombs of ancient Egypt, garments have been discovered with the edges frayed and twisted into what we may call a primitive lace, and in some of the Coptic embroideries threads have been drawn out at intervals and replaced with those of coloured wools, making an uncouth but striking design. Netting must have been understood, as many of the mummies found at Thebes and elsewhere are discovered wearing a net to hold or bind the hair; and also, a fine network, interspersed with beads, is often discovered laid over the breast, sometimes having delightful little blue porcelain deities strung amongst their meshes.

These early vestiges, however, are in no way representative of the later exquisite fabrics which we now know and recognise as Lace. Far nearer to them, as an art, are the early gold and silver laces of simple design found amongst the tombs of Mycenæ and Etruria, and those of a later date—i.e., the laces of gold used to decorate the vestments of the clergy, and the simple but sumptuous gowns of the Middle Ages. Along with the stole and maniple of St. Cuthbert, which are now at Durham Cathedral, was found a piece of detached gold lace, which must have formed a separate trimming. St. Cuthbert died in 685 A.D., and was buried at Lindisfarne, his body being afterwards transferred to Durham to save it from the desecration of the Danes who were ravaging the land. Over the body was a cloth, or sheet, which was worked in cutworks and fringes, showing that even at so early a date initial efforts at lace-making had been attempted.

As far as we can gather, the earliest endeavour at lace-making originated with the drawing of threads in linen fabrics, then dividing the existing threads into strands, and working over them, in various fanciful designs, either with a buttonhole stitch or simply a wrapping stitch. Exactly this method is used at the present day, and is known as hem-stitching and fine-drawing. A later development suggested, apparently, cutting away of some of the threads, their place being supplied with others placed angularly or in circles. Many delightful examples of the work are to be seen in our Old English samplers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and even so recently as thirty years ago specimens of this primitive and early lace-making were to be seen in the quaint "smock-frock" of the English farm labourer, a garment which, though discarded by the wearer in favour of the shoddy products of the Wakefield looms, is now deemed worthy of a place in the collector's museum.

It required little effort of fancy and skill, by the simple process of evolution and survival of the fittest, to expand this plan of cutting away threads and replacing them with others to doing away entirely with existing and attached threads, and supplying the whole with a pattern of threads laid down on some geometric fashion on a backing of parchment, working over and connecting the patterns together, and afterwards liberating the entire work from the parchment, thereby making what was known at the time as "punto in aria," or working with the needle-point in the air, literally "out of nothing."

Strange as this may appear, this was the origin, in the fifteenth century, of the whole wonderful fabric which afterwards became known as "Point lace," which altered and even revolutionised dress, made life itself beautiful, and supplied the women of Europe with a livelihood gained in an easy, artistic, and delightful manner. It also, however, led to ruinous expenditure in every country, at times requiring special edicts to restrain its extravagance, and even the revival of the old Sumptuary laws to repress it.

The earliest known lace, and by far the most popular with all classes, was "Reticella," which was the first kind evolved on the "punto in aria" principle. Until the discovery of an easy and simple way of decorating the linen ruffs and cuffs of the period these had been quite plain, as many contemporary portraits show. Afterwards the fashion of trimming garments of all descriptions with the pointed wiry edges of Venice became a mania, and led to imitation in almost every country of Europe. The convents turned out an immense quantity, thereby adding enormously to the incomes of their establishments. It is assumed that it is to the nuns of Italy we owe the succeeding elaboration of Reticella, "Needlepoint," the long, placid hours spent in the quiet convent gardens, lending themselves to the refinement and delicacy which this exquisite fabric made necessary. However this may be, it is certain that in a few years the rise and development of Needlepoint lace-making was little short of phenomenal, and every convent was busy making it and teaching their poorer lay sisters the art. Some of the wonderful Old

Point of this period is absolutely finer than the naked eye can see, a powerful magnifying glass being necessary to discern how the marvellous "toile" or "gimpe" is made.