LACE AND LACE-MAKING. 



539 



reliefs of needle-made points. These were guipure laces. The name 

 has since been applied to all laces without grounds that have the pat- 

 terns united by brides. The bold, flowing figures of Belgium and 

 Italy, joined by a coarse network gi-ound (Fig. 12), are also called 

 guipure. 



The guipure called Cluny, with its geometrical patterns, is a re- 

 cent lace which derives its name from the circumstance that the first 

 patterns were copied from specimens of old lace in the Musee de 

 Cluny. 



Thus far we have only spoken of hand-made lace, which, in Italy, 

 was a purely domestic industry. It was made by women at home, 



Fig. 12. Gotpube. Seventeenth Century. 



and each piece of work was begun and finished by the same hand. 

 But, when the statesman Colbert introduced the manufacture into 

 France, the principle of the division of labor was adopted, and the 

 work was done in large factories. By degrees, as we have seen, fine 

 needle-made net replaced the bride-ground in costly laces, and cheaper 

 laces of the same style were made upon the pillow. The sprigs were 

 at first worked into the net ; but at length, in the Valenciennes and 

 Mechlin laces, the figure was made along with the ground, and it was 

 the immense success of these laces which led to the invention and 

 perfection of lace-machines, so that now almost every kind of lace is 

 made by machinery, and often so perfect that it is difficult for experts 

 to detect the difference. 



