Some Arachne members have the CD's of old books that Tess scanned for the Professor's lace book site (which everyone can access). In the first CD's are books from my library. I think that on this subject it is enjoyable to revisit the large 2-volume set by Elisa Ricci "Old Italian Lace", published at the beginning of the 20th C. Volume 1 is about needle laces. Volume 2 is about bobbin laces. In Volume 2 are chapters about bobbin laces of Venice, Genoa, Milan, and Abruzzi. From Volume 2's Introduction is the following: "Such a slender art, this lace-making! Not strong enough, apparently, to bear the weight of research or history, or conceited enough to force a mention of the author or date of its beginning. We may suppose it to be of age-long antiquity, modified now and then by some trifling change, until, unexpectedly, it sprang into full vigour under new impulses." It then goes on to explain that it was at the close of the 15th C. that "people generally developed a desire for wearing of clean body-linen and were not slow in devising means of embellishing shirts, coifs, bed-borders, sheets, and pillow-slips with something which would wash along with the linen. In this way we trace needle-made lace as coming from its immediate predecessor colored embroidery, while from woven braids and trimmings of gold and silver and silks are evolved the bobbin-laces which, for a whole century, keep the names, terms and character of pasementeries (sic). We are not in a position to assert that all coloiured pasementries (sic) were made with bobbins; indeed, from the fact that throughout the XVI centuries our laces were described in France as bobbin-passementeries, (passements aux fuseaux) we may argue that other trimmings were not made with bobbins." Read on, and you find the account of gold lace made with bobbins that was to ornament the bedroom of the Queen of Hungary when she visited her sister, Eleanor of Aragon, also known as the Duchess of Ferrara, in 1476. So, here is a moment in which trimming was made with bobbins instead of on looms. Note, again, it was gold (metal) bobbin lace. I, Jeri, want to mention the Scythian gold jewelry that was in an exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the early 1970's. With this as a memory, I have to suggest that makers of gold jewelry may have used implements like bobbins to manipulate gold wire for some BCE jewelry. I have no documentation in my private library to prove this. It just seems very possible! Another matter that has not been discussed is the fact that there are vaults under The Vatican and great cathedrals that have not been opened for centuries. Since most lace makers were/are women, and they have for centuries been branded as too unclean and/or unworthy to enter such places, it may just be that earlier versions of needle-lace and bobbin-lace will be unearthed at some future date. There may also be more discoveries in China, which has not excavated many of its tombs. I have seen, at The Metropolitan and in Chinese embroidery books, needle-laces that are older than those that have been dated in Europe. These are rarely mentioned; probably because of the reaction it will create in Europe among those who have traditionally claimed to be the first to make needle-lace. It is not possible to find all information in one place (though the Chinese are presently working on that). I recommended a book about how women were regarded in the years 1500-1800 in a previous memo, because it explains a lot about why documentation of womens' history is so limited. History is fun to link together, and I do wish more schools made it fun to study. Jeri Ames Lace and Embroidery Resource Center **************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
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