Maria Margaret Pollen

“ Whilst the majority of your photographs are from generally well-known varieties of lace, those from the earlier drawn thread-works and darning upon different makes of square mesh, net, or grounds of radiating, intertwisted threads, are particularly interesting—and the entire series, accompanied by your descriptions, forms a most valuable encyclopædia of designs and textures to be seen in laces and cognate fabrics. ”

“ But the Genoese patterns were only introduced into Malta and Gozo about sixty or seventy years ago. One can but be glad of the success of an industry so profitable to the industrious peasantry of those islands, but it is impossible not to regret the total disappearance of the old style of lace-making. The old patterns are not in demand for the modern market, which is chiefly French, and the lace is principally made with silk imported from France.
I find that it is often supposed that no specimens exist of ancient Maltese lace. ”

“ The essential feature of the fabric now recognised as lace lies in its being wrought independently of any visible foundation such [vii] as linen or net; it is essentially a textile ornamentation depending upon special design, which can be rendered, so far as needle-point lace is concerned, by variations of the buttonhole stitch—the "punto a festone" in Italy, and "point noué" in France—which is distinctively a looping, and not a whipping or weaving, stitch; and so far as bobbin-made lace is concerned, by twisting and plaiting threads together. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ No linen or netting [34] 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. ”

“ Plate LXVIII. TWO BORDERS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE
Called point d'Argentan, on account of the make of the big mesh ground. The pattern of the first is similar to that of No. LXIII.; in the waved garland is a filling of very fine mesh (the Alençon ground) . The pattern of the second is of the semé de pois or de larmes style and in the edge is a recurrent filling of fine Alençon ground. The main ground of both pieces is composed of hexagonal meshes worked over in buttonhole stitch, as in Argentan lace. ”

“ Plate 95, a flounce of the same lace, has a very beautiful flowing design of scrolls, with a background of the characteristic réseau of Milanese work.
The Milanese alb flounce (Plate 96) is a very fine piece of much later date. The spaces enclosed by the toilé or tapey parts are filled by bobbin-made fillings or à jours, of various designs, a very strong and evenly made réseau connects the whole.
The two specimens of Italian lace, Plate 97, are of very elegant design; they also have the fond chant pattern of réseau. ”

“ A very interesting piece of old English needle-point work is No. 80, a cap of Holy, or Hollie, work. A close réseau is worked by using a stitch very similar to buttonhole stitch, and the effect is of a texture very like the cambric it adorns. The pattern is made by missing stitches, forming small holes.
Hollie lace was chiefly used to decorate infants' caps, etc., for baptism, and the pot with flower, reminiscent of the Annunciation, the Holy Dove, etc., were devices frequently introduced into the patterns. ”

“ The same style of making is more beautifully carried out in the two patterns of Plate 84. The lace in No. 1 is unfortunately very much worn, but the way the bobbin-made strip is arranged to make flowerlike forms is very ingenious; the ground is completely covered and yet nothing is awkward or crowded. No. 2 is also a very fine example of this simple bobbin work. I consider both to be early Venetian.
Number 1 of Plate 85 is a typical pattern of the lace which, originally no doubt inspired by the East has become universal under the name of "peasant" lace. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 beautiful fond de neige, used sometimes as a ground and sometimes as a filling or à jours, distinguishes this lace. The work is very fine and close, the edge is usually straight. It is sometimes called fausses Valenciennes.
Brussels gives its name to a variety of beautiful laces. The most renowned is the point d'Angleterre, made in great quantities during the later part of the seventeenth century for the English market. ”

“ 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 is of linen thread, with a coarser thread introduced; but one should remark that this thread is not used to outline the pattern as in Flemish lace. I have not met this réseau in any Flemish lace. Nos. 2 and 3 are bobbin-made silk lace, and were ruffles for a Court dress-coat.
The black mantilla, Plate 113, has the fond chant réseau used as a filling, and, although bought in Madrid in 1840, it may have been made in France.
The difficulty of working the materials of gold and silver lace is so great that absolute regularity of either pattern or réseau is impossible. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [36] 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 ”

“ Laces of rather indeterminate design, such as those which we call peasant laces, have, as a rule, a quaint treatment of pattern, the origin of which is, I think, almost invariably to be referred to some carefully designed prototype ”

“ A bobbin-made tape is introduced in No. 1. No. 3 is the so-called Carrickmacross lace; a muslin and machine net foundation is neatly outlined by fine whipped stitches; and buttonhole-stitch brides picotées are used to join the patterns after the background is cut away. This lace was first made after the famine of 1846.
[43] BOBBIN-MADE LACE
[45] The earliest bobbin lace was made by using the same threads for the whole of the lace, thus, when the pattern had been pricked out and the requisite number of bobbins charged with thread, the plaiting and twisting the threads into lace was begun. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The darning or punto a rammendo of the edge pattern is in each case worked the reverse way to that employed for the main design.
Together 4 ft. 7 in.
Italian, 16th century
See larger version
Plate XIX. BAND OF TELA TIRATA OR DRAWN WORK
The pattern left in the linen represents a variety of sacred and other subjects. A king and a queen between whom is an angel: St. Michael engaging Satan: St. Rafael holding Tobit by the hand, etc. The photograph shows a portion, representing St. Francis receiving the Stigmata; below are the words: S. Francisca. ”

“ The genesis of ornamental design for such laces is, I fancy, pretty well established through the classification of kindred designs, beginning with those involving simple abstract and geometric forms; these are gradually succeeded by others with conventional and more varied devices, suggesting plant and animal life ”

“ 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 ”

“ Needle-point lace usually called Venetian point à réseau. The pattern entirely covers the lace and is of conventional floral type: the fillings are very varied. This lace is not Venetian in design, and was probably made at Sedan. ”

“ The cap, Plate 100, is of later date; the réseau cinq trous, worked with a very opened out effect, can be observed in the fillings.
The early Mechlin lace resembles in design the point d'Angleterre, and, indeed, also the Alençon lace of the same date. It is most interesting to compare, say, the Mechlin, Plate 101, with the d'Angleterre, Plate 104, and the Venise à réseau of Plate 57. ”

“ On the other hand, the ornamental thread-work done in "punto di treccia" and "punto a stuora," which fills large and small squares and remarkable five-sided figures, seems to have some Saracenic or Moorish character, and may possibly not be assignable to the sixteenth century with the same cogency of inference as applies to the scallops of Italian "merletti a piombini" on the border of the alb. ”

“ Plate 120 is of Honiton sprays applied to machine-made net.
Space does not admit of any attempt to give a complete Bibliography. I find that a mere list of books that I have consulted at different times would be too long. ”

“ Punto avorio. The needle-made knots make a very even surface resembling ivory
No. 7. English needle-point, called Hollie or Holy Work, a stitch which resembles the Alençon réseau in the working, as after completing a row the thread is passed back so as always to begin at the same point
See larger version
Plate IX. FIVE ENLARGED VARIETIES OF RÉSEAUX
No. 1. Small and large réseaux of Point d'Alençon
No. 2. Point de Venise à réseau
No. 3. Point d'Argentan.
No. 4. Brussels needle-made réseau
No. 5. Brussels bobbin-made réseau
See larger version
Plate X. SEVEN ENLARGED VARIETIES OF RÉSEAUX
No. ”

“ No. 2 has a design of birds and scrolls in punto riccio, a border worked in punto avorio, and a curious hand-made fringe. 6 ft. 6 in. × 2 ft.
No. 3 is ornamented with reticello and punto riccio and has a bobbin-made edging and fringe. 3 ft. 6 in. × 2 ft.
See larger version
Plate XXIX. TWO BORDERS
No. ”