Seven Centuries of Lace

by Maria Margaret Pollen

Later the apparels gave place to ornament worked on the linen itself, and often forming a continuous band of decoration more or less wide round the edge. A tombstone on the floor of the church of St. Sabina in Rome has a recumbent figure with an alb decorated with a band of this kind. The inscription denotes that the figure represents a German abbot, named Egidius Varnsprach; the date is 1312. Later still, lace of all kinds was merely sewn on to the alb as a flounce, in the way usually adopted at the present time.

As far as I am aware, only two complete albs of early linen lace exist. They are both of very fine texture, the thread of the linen having been spun with great care and the weaving very closely done. The oldest is the alb, Plate [1], which is said to have been woven and ornamented by St. Clare of Assisi and her nuns, and is still preserved in the monastery of that place. The tradition is that it was worn by St. Francis of Assisi. I was fortunately able to examine it closely and to obtain details of the lacework, which is worked on the linen itself in tela tirata and punto reale. Symbolic animals and chimeras are introduced, but the polygonal character of the design is preserved throughout, and establishes, I consider, its Coptic derivation.

To confirm this, I need only instance the fact that these, and other earliest known specimens of lacis and linen lace existing, are almost identical in design with the forms familiar to us from the discoveries in Coptic tombs in Egypt from the first and third centuries onwards. These designs, simple and formal as they appear, are really full of meaning. Mr. Albert Gayet has pointed out, in his history of Coptic art, that the law of polygonal evolution only completed in the eleventh century the course it had steadfastly pursued from the beginning. He continues: "It seems a far cry from the early Greek tradition to this time. But the Coptic artist was never in sympathy with the Greek striving towards realism. He wished to express, not the image itself, but the impression conveyed by the image. He preferred the thought to the concrete form. The divine idea, which to the Greek must mean a precise representation, he prefers to render quite otherwise. The fidelity of the Coptic artist to this polygony renders it the key to all his art. His first efforts are blunders, but he is not discouraged, he continues without hesitation to follow his ideal. He finds in the philosophy of the polygon the impression he wishes to convey of the ideal and the invisible. His composition, according to the Gnostic definition, has its secret side, hidden under the emblem shown, while the emblem shown has also a hidden side. Then by the superposition of entrelacs, or strap-work, he conveys the idea of evolution, or things (mysteries) turning and repeating themselves indefinitely, but always in an inflexible circle." For example, a number of star-centred octagons, formed by a network of lines, will have a cross in the centre—other little crosses may be traced in each star—and in the arabesques of the corners crosses may also be found. "Everywhere, even in the most closely packed work, this symbol can be found; the most abstract geometrical combinations are still subject to the same system. Polygony places everywhere and always the sign of the Faith."[G]

I must also make a quotation from the learned Dr. Rock, which, though written nearly forty years ago, is so apposite while considering this beautiful lacework from Assisi and its Eastern derivation.

Strengthening our idea that the old Egyptians had borrowed the cross as a spell against evil, and a symbol of eternal life, is a passage set forth by Rufinus, A.D. 397, and by Socrates B.C. 440.

"On demolishing at Alexandria a temple dedicated to Serapis, were observed several stones sculptured with letters called hieroglyphics, which showed the figures of a cross. Certain Gentile inhabitants of the city who had lately been converted to the Christian faith, initiated in the method of interpreting these enigmatic characters, declared that the figure of the cross was considered as the symbol of future life."[H]

"We know that modifications of the form of the cross have been found on monuments already discovered; others may turn up with the so-called 'gammadion' found upon Egyptian stuff of such an early date. The recurrence of the gammadion upon Christian monuments is curious. It is shown in the catacombs, and in numerous later instances. Christianity widened the meaning of this symbol and made it teach the doctrine of the Atonement of Calvary, and that Christ is our corner-stone. In the thirteenth century it was taken to be an apt memorial of His five wounds and, remembering the stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi, this gammadion became the favourite device of such as bore that Saint's name."[I]

No less than twenty varieties of these polygonal ornaments, many of them introducing the gammadion, are to be found in the lacework of the Assisi alb. See Plate [3].

The tradition mentioned by Dr. Rock of the device of the gammadion being identified with St. Francis may, I think, have originated in the circumstance of his having worn this alb. In Plate [6] I give two examples of early Italian punto reale of the same kind although very inferior in variety and in workmanship, but in most of these early "cartiglia," as this work is called in Italy, the polygonal idea is still predominant.

The other complete alb is also of linen lace, and is said to have been worn by Pope Boniface VIII. in 1298. (See Plate [2].) It is preserved in the Treasury of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, where I had an opportunity of examining it closely and of obtaining the technical details I give. As to its possible history I may note that St. Nilos and his monks were driven from the East by the Saracens at the end of the tenth century, and came to Italy, where they were welcomed by Pope Gregory V. He established them in the monastery a few miles from Rome, where their successors still worship with their Eastern rites. The famous alb may have been brought by these very monks or those who followed them from the East.[J]