-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lorelei Halley Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 2:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [lace] oud Duchesse
Patty I have not heard the specific name you gave, but I have seen some very odd things. Please look at http://lynxlace.com/bobbinlace%20revival%20era%20part.html ============================================================================ I looked at your pages and I think the mystery lace with needle ground and quite a bit larger than Duchesse in scale is something the lace dealers foisted off at the end of the 1900s as Vieux Flandre. Bobbin made tape like stuff with needleground that is quite large and coarse. Anotheran associated lace is Duchesse-Sluisse, but I don't know its attributes. Someone on Arachne mentioned Oud Duchesse because I observed that it sort of looked like Duchesse, but very flat and quite a bit less complex than what we view as Duchesse, either with or without point de gaz. The final whammy is a Duchesse-like part lace from the low countries that is almost all flat and very ribbon like called Brabant Duchesse. I have been perusing all the usual suspects of lace history (Henneberg, Santina Levey, Heather Toomis, Ann Kraatz, Kant in de Gouden Eeus. ============================================================================ == Tebbs' book on part lace was written in 1908 and she describes how to make various part laces which she calls Guipure de Flandre, point de Flandre, old Flemish, old Milanese. These are all on a scale somewhat larger than late 19th century Duchesse, and are definitely revival era laces, not truly old 18th century copies. The term "oud Duchesse" seems odd because Duchesse was created as a style in the last half of the 19th century, which is not that old, even from our perspective. What is the context in which you came across that term? =========================================================================== I got the term from someone on Arachne several years ago and didn't follow it up. Evidently, there are some patterns available (or were) in Europe in an older, simpler form of Brussels lace, that is mainly quite flat and uses a special circle motif. ============================================================================ = Is it possible that your source was referring to Brussels bobbin lace of the first half of the 19th century, before the Duchesse style was invented? ============================================================================ At this point, I begin to suspect that there was more than one attempt to produce duchesse and the Brabant flavor was a less than top tier production. ============================================================================ = Also occurring around the same time period (late 19th-early20th c), I have seen laces which are greatly simplified and somewhat larger scale than 19th c Duchesse, and which I've heard called "fine bloomwork" (fijn Bloemwerk). This latter is not as large in scale as modern Bruges bloomwork. ========================================================================== I have a picture from eBay that show a bloemwoerk style that appears to me to be on the way to Rosaline. Truly transitional. =========================================================================== Also, again, I have seen several examples of laces on the scale of this "fine bloomwork" but which have a needle lace ground, and I have never heard any clear explanation of where and when that type was made. ... Please be sure to report anything you find out. I'd be interested to hear the answers. =========================================================================== I am trying to synthesize a comprehensive framework to think about Brussels part laces and their connection and influences with other laces. Elements I am trying to synthesize and set in a timeline: Point de Angleterre - [Neither English nor needlepoint nor BL point ground, a misnomer altogether] fine scale raised work motifs with vrai droeschel ground (like mechlin but more CT in the plait)) When I see lace so denominated, it is almost always an edging and the motifs are frequently similar size and style but not the same pattern, so an early lace (well before Duchesse). Brussels lace - classic example is lappets made of all raised work motifs with practically no ground of any kind. Early 1700s. The development of Brussels lace from Flemish tape lace. Somewhere along the line Flemish ground took a left turn and started making loop de loops. Plaits started piling up and crossing each other and being added as a 3D element for emphasis. Eventually, raised work becomes the norm except in Duchesse Brabant. In Duchesse, over time, raised work becomes less and less until the 1800s close with mostly gimp except for the leaves with taps. I don't know where Bloemwoerk fits in exactly. Rosaline, developed in the 1900s. Whithof of course is a 1900s lace. And last, but not least, what the lace dealers did with all the motifs they didn't use. Are the appliqué Brussels laces new motifs, old motifs or a mix? I know that I have seen Duchesse and Brussels appliqué with BL motifs that are not the same color, size of thread, degree of refinement, transparency, or style. I have a piece of lace that looks like never used very fine Valenciennes that has had the headside cut to produce a slight scallop and had a false picot edge sewed onto it. It came in a box labeled Compagnie des Indes which was Lefebure's company that was only in business for a few years in the middle of the 1800s. His lace company must surely have had stocks of some older laces that could be reworked and sold. So many clues and so few conclusions. - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
