Exhibition

 

Lace: The Art of Needle and Bobbin

Higbee Gallery, March 23, 2007 - January 6, 2008

Jean Druesedow, Curator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pair of Engageantes of Needle Lace

French, about 1715 - 1725

Linen

These beautiful sleeve flounces had been stitched together to make a long 20th century style collar.  Once separated, they demonstrate the graceful shape of the single flounces stylish around 1700.  In spite of the slump in the lace trade due to changing fashions at the turn of the eighteenth century, small patterned needle lace like that in these pieces continued to be made.  The style of the lace is characteristic of point de France and does not have the continuous scrolling stems of Venetian lace.  The tiny buttonhole stitches that make up the cloth are used in wonderful variety.

Kent State University Museum

Gift of Jo A. Bidner, 2004.27.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needle Lace Border, Coraline

Italian, Venice, early 18th century

Linen

27” x 3 1/8”

The continuous scrolling motifs are typical of Venetian needle lace as are the small knobs on the end of each tiny picot.  Coraline, a modern term, is a hybrid of French and Italian styles, possibly created in response to the changing fashions of the early eighteenth century and to the popularity of French needle laces.  It is usually flat with a branching-sprig pattern.

Kent State University Museum

Gift of Jo A. Bidner, 2004.27.15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bobbin Lace Collar, Gros Point de Venise

Italian, Venice, 3rd quarter, 17th Century (Re-made, 1st third, 20th century)

Linen

L at CB: 4 ¼”

Heavy Venetian needle lace was popular from the 1660s to the end of the century.  Boldly patterned and three dimensional, it can be seen in many portraits of the period.  The heaviest of the Venetian laces, called in French gros point de Venise, often had no ground of links or bars.  Rather the motifs touch here and there to form the pattern.  In this particular example, the lack of a continuous scrolling design and the “jumbled” appearance of the various elements imply that the various motifs were re-assembled into the current collar shape from some earlier piece of lace.

Kent State University Museum

Gift of Jo A. Bidner, 2004.27.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pair of Sleeve Fragments with Cutwork and Needle Lace

Possibly Flemish, late 16th or early 17th century

Linen

15” x 7”

Cutwork is considered to be the precursor to lace and was popular from about 1560 to 1620.  Cutwork is a term applied to needle lace worked over holes in fabric where some warp and weft threads have been retained to create a grid.  In this case rectangles of 5/8” (3 cm.) by 3/8” (2 cm.) have been cut out of the linen sleeves leaving four warp and four weft threads for the grid.  These are overcast or needle woven and then the decorative motifs are worked in buttonhole stitches within the rectangles.  The points are freely formed needle lace.  These particular sleeves appear to have been shortened.  Their shape indicates that originally they may have been part of a priest’s alb.

Kent State University Museum

Gift of Jo A. Bidner, 2004.27.4ab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Embroidered Cutwork Fragment

Italian, early 17th century

Linen

6 5/8” x 6 1/8”

Cutwork is considered to be the precursor of lace.  In this technique of needle lace, popular from about 1560 to 1620, certain threads from both the warp and weft of woven cloth are drawn out and cut away to create a grid.  In this case rectangles 5/8” (3 cm.) square have been cut out of the linen leaving four warp and four weft threads for the grid. The resulting spaces are then filled with decorative stitches.  Cutwork decorated many of the collars and cuffs of 16th and 17th century garments, including those known as “ruffs,” and was used for both men and women.  In this case, the cutwork band is not integral to the rest of the piece, but has been attached as a decorative edging.  The embroidery on this piece is an example of “blackwork,” a form of counted thread embroidery.  The original black color has oxidized to this current shade of brown.

Kent State University Museum

Transferred from the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio.

Oberlin-Carnegie Corporation Fund, 1995.17.767

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Embroidered Flounce

German, Saxony, 18th century

Linen

125” x 9 1/2”

From about 1720 whitework embroidery was done with white thread on white cloth in imitation of Brussels bobbin lace.  This piece is an example of pulled-fabric whitework where groups of threads are bound together with embroidery stitches to make a pattern.  Although often combined with cutwork, in this example no threads are cut away, only moved to separate them into a mesh grid, to bind them in different decorative patterns, or to leave areas of the original plain weave untouched.  The finest examples of this type of decorative stitching were made in Saxony and were sold through merchants from Dresden, and consequently were known as “Dresden work” or “Dresden point.” 

Kent State University Museum

Transferred from the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Georges E. Seligmann, 1957, 1995.17.1245