It would be difficult to enumerate the various kinds of lace produced by Venice in her palmy days.
The Cavaliere Merli has endeavoured to classify them according to the names in the pattern-books with which Venice supplied the world, as well as with her points. Out of some sixty of these works, whose names have been collected, above one-third were published in Venice.[[167]]
Fig. 20.
Mermaid's Lace.
1. Punto a reticella.[[168]]—Made either by drawing the threads of the cloth, as in the samplar already given (Fig. 5), or by working the lace on a parchment pattern in buttonhole stitch (punto smerlo). (Fig. 21.) This point is identical with what is commonly called "Greek" lace.
Under this head comes punto reale (the opposite of reticella), where the linen ground is left and the design cut out.[[169]] Punto di cartella or cordella (card-work) is similar in effect to reticella, but the button-holing is done entirely over a foundation made by sewing coarse thread and bits of parchment on to the design and covering them with button-hole stitch.
Fig. 21.
Reticella.