LACE IN THE COLLECTION OF MRS. ALFRED MORRISON AT FONTHILL
THE lace of Mrs. Alfred Morrison at Fonthill House is of special interest among private collections. Mrs. Morrison has long interested herself in the exertions of M. M. Lefébure, the Honiton revival by the late Mrs. Treadwin of Exeter, and even the crochet work of Ireland, and has in many cases supplied designs, or suggestions for design, to these centres; hence, with her well-known collection of antique lace she has included the best of its modern derivatives and modern design. Among the specimens illustrated are:—
Plate I: (1) A curious example of a rare type of lace made in Russia, consisting of a scarf with arms worked upon either end. This lace was made in the early part of the nineteenth century (when needle-point was first introduced into Moscow) at a private lace school. The design, which is upon net, and very unlike the characteristic Russian vermiculate patterns with their oriental character and occasional colouring, consists of a chain of jours enclosing coarse, simple, and prominent fillings similar to those of provincial pillow-laces of England and France, and a semé of small sprigs. Although the workmanship is even throughout, the drawing is so naïve as to suggest that the lace-worker was unused to that type of lace. There is a border of similar jours alternating with small leaves and sprays.
(2) Gros point de Venise.—In the central strip of this lace very few brides have been introduced, and only so far as is necessary for strength, and those used are plain. The bride work forms no essential part of the design, the parts of the pattern being chiefly held together by being worked in contact with one another. In the joined border, which is of later date, the work, and especially the raised scallops, is of a superior evenness and regularity. Short brides, both plain and picotées, connect the design, which is closer and more florid, and remarkable for the compact, firm character which careful and precise workmanship has given to the piece, as it were scolpito in rilievo.
(3) Point de Venise.—Two long strips (3½ inches wide) of excellent and open scroll and floral design. The brides which connect the design are decorated with small stars and whirls. Upon some of the raised borders are set small scallops, or picots. Seventeenth century.
(4) Alençon lappet, a design of interlacing ribbons, filled in with light modes, enclosing a small ornament. Eighteenth century. Period, Louis XV.
(5) Modern Irish Needle-point lace, à brides picotées, specially made and designed for Mrs. Alfred Morrison [very much reduced]. Nineteenth century.
Plate II: (1) Brussels veil (three sides of which are ornamented, the fourth being plain), containing floral devices made in pillow, and applied to pillow-made mesh grounds. The softness of the grounds, the workmanship of the flowers, of which the cordonnets have little or no relief, the lightness of the fillings of the modes, place these Brussels points in a category quite distinct from any other lace. The design is of light leafy festoons of roses and forget-me-nots. In the corner is an urn-shaped ornament with lateral festoons. The border has a scalloped edge. Throughout the veil are pillow renderings of various modes, the réseau rosacé, star devices, etc. Eighteenth century.
(2) Honiton lace, made by the late Mrs. Treadwin of Exeter, from an old design. The pattern is connected by small brides covered with a number of small picots.