The cap of Lille lace, No. 2, Plate [107], has the simple twisted thread réseau characteristic of this and of Arras lace. It is not to be distinguished from the réseau often used in Buckingham lace.
We must again notice how similar the design in the fine old Valenciennes of Plate [108] is to that of Alençon needle-point of the same date. The réseau is closely plaited, and the toilé of the beautiful patterns compact and clear in definition. No outline or cordonnet is used in Valenciennes lace. The early lace has what is called the round réseau, the later Valenciennes made at Yprès has a square réseau (Plate [109]). This latter lace is still made, but has not the charm of the eighteenth-century lace.
The lace (Plate [110]) was probably made in Paris. It is very curious, with heraldic device of an eagle with a shield; dogs also, and stags, are introduced. It may have been made for a wedding about 1690. This lace is often described in the inventories of old families in France as dentelle de chasse.
The Blonde lace (Plate [111]) was made in Chantilly for a wedding in 1820.
Plate [112] gives three specimens of bobbin-made lace, with the so-called maglia di Spagna, or Spanish mesh. No. 1 is of linen thread, with a coarser thread introduced; but one should remark that this thread is not used to outline the pattern as in Flemish lace. I have not met this réseau in any Flemish lace. Nos. 2 and 3 are bobbin-made silk lace, and were ruffles for a Court dress-coat.
The black mantilla, Plate [113], has the fond chant réseau used as a filling, and, although bought in Madrid in 1840, it may have been made in France.
The difficulty of working the materials of gold and silver lace is so great that absolute regularity of either pattern or réseau is impossible. This, however, in my opinion, only renders these rare laces more interesting. Both metals are used in the characteristic specimen of sixteenth-century Spanish lace, No. 1 in Plate [114].
Number 2 is a silver seventeenth-century lace from Genoa, the edge is a shell pattern, and several thicknesses of the metal-covered silk thread are used. Plate [115] has four patterns of seventeenth-century gold and silver lace made in Italy, probably at Lucca.
The Brussels lappet, made in 1849, Plate [116], was then considered one of the finest ever made, the pattern is pretty and realistic, and foreshadows the style since prevalent.
The Bedfordshire lappet, on the same plate, is far inferior in execution, but was made by a cottager at about the same time and has done good service.