Hello Elizabeth and everyone I have a few thoughts to share about the mysterious lace. I had a conversation with a couple of lace friends not on the lace list. The piece puts us in mind of a dresser-scarf of the Arts & Crafts era. One of us recalls seeing a photo of lace from either Ceylon or India with animals, and in her collection, owns a hanky with an edging featuring elephants (likely machine-made and likely not from western sources). Another clue about an Asian source, fine embroidery work was exported to Europe for christening gowns at the end of the 19th C. - mainly from India.
Side notes: The embroidery on this resembles some found on the modern reproductions from China currently being sold to unwary tourists... La Dentelle published a series of animal laces in the '90's issues and they are quite whimsical, and the mystery lace brought to mind those in La Dentelle. We wish we could turn up some documentation readily. Only have opinions so far. We think it is Asian made, for export maybe, or to sell to the colonials during the British Raj? The elephants, plus the combination of techniques suggest somewhere on the subcontinent as a source (however, just as readily, it could be a textile made in China by commission from an outside source). The divider-shape could be the Greek symbol pi or just an attractively composed framing element, as part of the overall design? We might be all wet with these thoughts, but it has been fun to speculate. The closeup detail of each photo is amazing. Thank you for posting this item, and we'll hope something turns up to solve the mystery! On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 7:50 PM, Elizabeth Kurella <[email protected]>wrote: > Calling out to lacemakers and collectors around the world -- where might > this > charming but tattered piece have been made? > > Come visit www.LaceCurator.info and help solve the mystery. > -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
