[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >Let me suggest that the dragon- or rather salamander and the hedgehog might >hail from Retournac, France. Susan Lambiris has agreed to post some pictures >of a similar salamander and a hedgehog that I took there on the arachne >website since I am a mechanical dolt.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/244348757BRJzVK Devon! That's them! or very close to. My pair was square, rather than round, but that's the very hedgehog that I didn't manage to buy. >I think the Salamander >may have been the symbol of Francis I, of France, although the lace on display >in Retournac is mostly 19th and early 20th century, much as Sally describes >in relation to Italy. > >It is guipure lace. Unlike Bruges, where the salamander would be made >separately and then the background added, it is made like Lester type Bedfordshire, >or Cluny lace, where the pairs come in directly from the background bars. I will post a better photo -- hopefully you will be able to see the thread paths a bit better this time. He has the strangely thick raised front foot of the salamander emblem found in the Chateau de Blois, seen here: http://tinyurl.com/25sdpt But he has lost the crown and the flame coming out of his mouth, and is "surrounded" by only one flame. And now that I've been doing some Googling, it looks like the hedgehog was probably Louis XII's porcupine. Now I am really sorry I wasn't in time to buy the matching porcupine. Pretty good for an "embroidery picture" (which is what the price tag in the antique shop said). Lynn Carpenter in SW Michigan, USA alwen at i2k dot com http://lost-arts.blogspot.com/ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
