20 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1909. 



wide, of point d'Argentan, lent by Mrs. Eobert R. Hitt, which is a 

 superb museum specimen. This can very confidently be assigned 

 to the eighteenth century by its design of garlands and baskets of 

 flowers in flowing, repeated pattern. Those who ai'e collectors of lace, 

 alone can realize the great value and extraordinary rarity of so per- 

 fect an example of the lace makers' art. With this, most interest- 

 ingly, has been set forth a scarcely less regal flounce of point d'Milan, 

 showing a conventional, all-over, scroll pattern, very graceful and 

 effective, also the property of Mrs. Hitt. And right here, perhaps, 

 mention should be made of a remarkable piece of church lace, said to 

 be of the time of Louis XIV, lent by Mrs. Thomas Nelson Page, on 

 which the Virgin is seen pictured as drawn in a chariot, above the 

 clouds, by cherubs. 



"And this brings us to the consideration of the bobbin laces, which 

 are, in fact, no less well represented by examples than the needle 

 point. The invention of pillow or bobbin lace is usually accredited 

 to Flanders, but whether or not rightly, some question. It is worthy 

 of note, however, as a well-known writer has pointed out, that the 

 two regions of Europe wdiere pictorial art first flourished — North 

 Italy and Flanders — should have been the localities where lace 

 making first became an industry of importance. Doubtless the inter- 

 course between Italy and the Low Countries brought this to pass, but 

 certain it is that the Flemish not only borrowed but independently 

 develoj^ed the art, so that to-day to acquaint ourselves with special 

 phases of lace making we are obliged to go to the Dutch and Flemish 

 portraits for confirmatory data. Recalling vividly some of the great 

 portraits painted by Van Dyck and his contemporaries is a piece of 

 Van Dyck point of the seventeenth century, lent by Miss Margaret 

 A. Codman. 



" But to return again to the bobbin laces. Many specimens of 

 Mechlin — in the seventeenth century styled the ' Queen of laces ' — of 

 Valenciennes and Bruxelles, have been lent and admirably set forth, 

 so that their distinguishing characteristics might be readily noted. 

 Special mention should, perhaps, be made of two interesting veils — 

 one point d'applique, French of the nineteenth century, with a nat- 

 uralistic design of roses and lilacs, and the other Brussels point on a 

 bobbin ground, the design roses and wheat, the period probably that 

 of the French revolution — both witnessing to a weakening in design 

 disassociated from the matter of craftsmanship ; and, also, of fine 

 specimens of Flemish bobbin, eighteenth century, lent by Mrs. W. M. 

 Kingsland, and of Valenciennes lent by Mrs. F. A, Keep. 



" From Flanders the lace-making art passed to England, and in an 

 effort to foster and protect it Charles II, like Louis XIV, issued an 

 edict prohibiting importation. To evade this law the lace makers of 



