While we are talking about antique lace, I was given a book of bobbin
lace samples made/assessed in 1911 when I went down to Witney on
Wednesday. I wondered whether perhaps any French Arachnes might know
anything about the institute?
The book, a red hard cover folder slightly larger than A4, contains
pages of samples worked and assessed for the first three parts of the
Institut Professionnel Neuchatelois de Dentelles, Neuchatel-Lausanne - I
think the Expert (examiner?), from her signature, was a Mme R I Funod
(or maybe Fernod). The samples were worked by Miss Norah Crooke, who
from the loose notes at the back of the folder was British rather than
French. The folder has in gold lettering the title 'Modeles de
Dentelles' (Lace Samples) (apologies for the lack of accents, there is a
grave accent over the first e of Modeles).
I took it into class this morning, and my first comment on showing it to
my students was "this is how not to display your lace" (Jeri, close your
eyes quick!) - the lace is pinned (with ordinary short silver coloured
pins) to blue/grey paper pages. There are some acid marks on some of the
samples, but most have survived quite well. Obviously, in putting the
work in to be assessed it needed to be accessed both sides by the
examiner, and the useful archive quality sheets for displaying photos
etc that we have now were not available then. There are three prickings
at the back of the folder - demonstrating clearly how much the lace
shrank when it was released, but also on much thicker card than we use
now.
The folder also includes the syllabus covered, the first three parts
being the Certificate of Studies, (which are the samples in the book)
then it also gives the syllabus for parts 4 and 5, which are required
for the teaching diploma. The lace samples, mostly, are of the Cluny
type, a couple of the samples include coloured thread (green, and I
think it may be silk). Can anyone translate 'La Fougere' for me (again,
grave accent over the first e). I hadn't come across Point de Six before
(a double version of triangle ground, used as a footside) and there are
plenty of tallies of one type or another (leaves, raised, raised and
rolled, point d'espirit, etc). From the notes, it appears the lace was
worked in the opposite manner to the way I work (I can never remember
which is open and which is closed!) I quote from her notes:
"Half Point
Hold the two pairs in either hand and twist; the two rights over the two
lefts, and cross two middle bobbins, left over right; continue in same
way to end of line. In closing pin two half points on top of one
another."
In other words: twist, cross instead of cross, twist.
The labelling throughout the book is in ink, written in French. From the
mark sheet at the front, her overall mark was "good" - it would be
interesting to know where that stood in the marking scale - some pieces
are much better than others!
I also took the chance to go and see the annual sampler exhibition at
Witney Antiques, and this year the theme is "Samplers Mapped and
Charted". Two have bobbin lace edgings; one silver metal lace. There are
about half a dozen or so stumpwork pieces displayed, too. I found it
fascinating that in the late 18th and early 19th centuries the North Sea
was known mainly as the German Ocean, and occasionally as the British
Ocean (does Eric know when it was downgraded to a sea, Jacqui S.?). Many
of these samplers are worked on silk. (The large square of Valenciennes
bobbin lace is still on display - wonderful to look at, but I would need
to mortgage the house to even think about buying it!) If you get the
chance to go and see the exhibition, do - Witney is about half an hour
by bus from Oxford, and the exhibition is on until Saturday 29th
October, 10am-5pm daily. http://www.witneyantiques.com
I now have some work cut out - they are selling some hand-coloured
charts for Berlin Woolwork - and having just bought a handbag mirror
mount, and having some silk gauze bought quite a while back, I'm
planning on working one of the designs from the chart I bought, but in
silk, not wool!
--
Jane Partridge
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