Lace

As finally evolved, however, lace-making comprised four dif ferent processes (I) with the needle : needlepoint (It. punto in aco ; Fr. point a l'aiguille ; Ger. niihskitzen) developed directly from drawnwork and cut-linenwork in which processes certain counted threads in a linen cloth are removed to provide open spaces for decorative lace stitchery. When the field for decora tion is obtained by withdrawing threads of the linen, the work is termed drawnwork, of which there are several varieties: (It. punto tirato ; tela sfilata; fili tirati e ripresi or lacis; flu tirati tela lasciata. Fr. point tire; Ger. Durchbrucharbeit; Sp. deshilado). When groups of counted threads are removed by cutting, it is cut linenwork (It. punto tagliato; Fr. point coupe; Ger. Doppeldurch brucharbeit) ; (2) With bobbins, pins and pillow or cushion: bob bin or pillow lace (It. merli a piombini; Fr. dentelle a fuseaux; Ger. Kloppelspitze; Dutch, gespelde-werkte kant ; Old Flem. spelle werk); (3) With a crochet hook; (4) With shuttles on a loom operated by hand or by power-driven machinery.

The classification of lace by the historical sequence of design according to centuries, can be roughly grouped as follows : i6th century, geometric type; 17th century, patterns of foliated scrolls supported by tie-bars with no background; 18th century, formal arrangement of symmetrically balanced scrolls reflecting contem porary silk patterns, stylistic floral forms, naturalistic floral motives with ribbons and festoons; development of the mesh background and elaborate fours or ornamental stitches; 19th century, the decadent period of design, ultra naturalistic floral patterns; introduction of machine net.

Italy.

In Renaissance portraits of the late 15th century, rare jewels are worn with costumes of sumptuous velvets heavily trimmed with gold and silver passements. In the early days of lace-making the lace trade was handled entirely by the Paris passementiers who made no distinction between passementerie and lace, applying the same name to both. The confusion of terms resulting therefrom persisted until the middle of the i7th century when in lace nomenclature passement and dentelle became two distinct fabrics, the former applying only to flat braid or guimp trimmings of gold or silver thread, the latter to needlepoint and bobbin lace. But lace had not yet become an accessory of dress.

From the middle of the i6th century on, however, the history of lace, as recorded in contemporary portraiture, can be traced step by step as the gradual mastery of the art was acquired by the workers in meeting the mandates of fashion. It was this century that witnessed the evolution of needlepoint lace from embroidered and cut linenworks. When in 1542 a sumptuary edict prohibited the extravagant use of silk and gold in embroidery, the early geometric type was already well established. The process of this work was as follows : groups of counted warp and weft threads were drawn or cut out from a piece of linen cloth leaving at set intervals a certain number of warp threads, these with the cut edges of the linen cloth forming a series of rectangular openings; in such spaces added threads, diagonally placed, served to sup port star and circular motives worked in the simple loop or button hole stitch (point noue), which is the foundation of all needlepoint lace. This lace—which the Italians styled reticella (from rete, net)

and which has been variously described as "gothic point" and "Greek lace"—Venice exported in large quantities to the court of France during the reign of Louis XIII. where it enriched the collars, knee garters and shoe tops of the King's favourites.

The sumptuary edict of 1542 was an important date in lace history, for the needlecraft workers of Venice, obliged to abandon embroidery in colour, turned their attention to the elaboration of white work; and it was during this period when the finest linen works were produced in her convents and in the families of nobility, that Italy's lace technique was established—a technique that owed its perfection to the meticulous accuracy with which in the preparation of a pattern each thread of the linen was carefully counted. But the Venetian workers who had long served their apprenticeship as embroiderers and were past masters in the art of reproducing with the needle patterns inspired by the delicate foliated scroll-work found on the borders of missals and in the arabesques of Near Eastern leather work and rug weaves, were not content with the geometric type of patterns, and as their technique developed they strove to abandon the linen foundation in order to reproduce in lace the same patterns that were used for embroidery. At this time, side by side with the already developed geometric type, two varieties of cut-work are found which seem to reflect this tendency on the part of the lace-workers. One of these is the punto tagliato (Motto, stitch; tagliare, to cut) for which the Venetian, Mattheo Pagan, published a book of patterns in 1542, the year of the edict. In this work, which like reticello starts with a linen foundation, a sufficient number of counted warp and weft threads are withdrawn to form a simple rectangular framework; this reticulated background is then overworked, and superimposed upon it is a scrolling vine pattern worked in punto in aria. The fact that Paris Bordone appears to be the only Venetian painter whose works record this variety of cut-work would seem to indicate that the transitional period was of short duration. The second variety is what is known as intagliatela, another version of cut cloth. In this the pattern is elaborately designed with foliated arabesques and pomegranate motives, the occasional open spaces no longer adhering to the earlier quad rangular outline, the geometric stars and circles giving way to stylistic floral motives, figure and animal devices which occupy the irregular fields of openwork.