Fri Aug 6, 2021 06:35 AM

August 6, 2021

An interesting piece from the Art Institute of Chicago got me thinking this morning. It is made from 17th century needlelace squares assembled into a cloth either in the late 19th or early 20th century with modern bobbin lace added. A lot of what I know about the books and lace comes through a similar filter, with the big museum collections featuring lace put together around the same time. Not to mention the republications of several of the pattern books that were done in the same period. There are some really big holes and biases in my knowledge as a result and I need to keep that in mind.

I’ve pulled lace patterns from Lotz 38, “Newes Modelbuch in Kupffer gemacht” published by Johannes Sibmacher in 1604. https://archive.org/details/gri_33125001060827

This is specifically the Getty’s copy of the 1604 which is much more complete than the Clark’s and the Met’s copies. The 1886 and 1909 republications put out by Ernst Wasmuth have all the lace plates removed, focusing instead on the possible cross stitch uses for some of the other patterns. (As an FYI, Wasmuth’s 1885 version of Sibmacher is a completely different book.) If all I’d looked at was the Wasmuth copies, I would not know those patterns were ever a part of the book.

That isn’t to say it is a problem isolated to the 20th century versions. All of the surviviving books are in various states of completeness and condition, so comparing the versions we have is important. As is remembering that these were consumables, intended to be used for more than just reading and sitting in a shelf.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts this morning. Hope you have a wonderful day!

-Hastings

Lace Cover, reference number 1978.978 https://www.artic.edu/artworks/54134/cover