Jaarboek Kostuum 2001

Table of Contents

1. Patricia Wardle
   The lace of Anna Paulovna
   

   When Grand Duchess Anna Paulovna (1795-1865) married Crown Prince William of Orange (1792-1849) in 1816, the lace industry was at a low ebb. This was not only a result of the French Revolution and subsequent wars, but above all of the advent of unadorned neo-classical women’s dress at around the same time as that of the first machine-made net. This is reflected in the relatively small proportion of bobbin lace in Anna Paulovna's trousseau, and on the other hand a great quantity of petinete, probably a corruption of ‘patent net’, a silk net produced by the point-net machine patented in 1778. Almost all the petinete dresses are embroidered, often with gold and silver thread and even semi-precious stones.

   The inventory also lists a white satin dress trimmed with gold lace, which could have been made in Russia. Neither the types of lace used for a trained dress and various accessories, nor for trimmings of silk or cotton garments, are specified. The only exception is blonde, the silk bobbin lace which had remained in vogue throughout those troubled times and was to become highly popular in the 1820s and 1830s. The inventory also includes a lace coverlet and lace-trimmed linen for a double bed, as well as a matching set of lace for decorating a dressing table.

   Before the Belgian Revolt in 1830 the Prince and Princess of Orange spent much of their time in Brussels. There Anna Paulovna helped her mother Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna (1759-1828) with purchases of lace from the firm of L'Epouse de J. D. 't Kint, where the Prince of Orange also bought two dresses of Brussels needle lace in 1824. Another lace firm patronized by the Prince and Princess was that of Meeûs Van der Borcht, one of whose invoices lists the types of lace it had in stock. Both businesses were among those where Napoleon and his second wife Marie Louise of Austria bought lace several times.

   No lace associated with Anna Paulovna survives and very little lace is seen in her portraits. The exceptions are the print showing her and her husband in 1816, and the only photograph known of her, taken in St Petersburg during her last visit there in 1855-1856. The article includes an inventory of Anna Paulovna’s possessions as far as the use of lace is involved.

2. Sanny de Zoete
   Sheets for showing-off
   

   The discovery of two richly decorated 17th-century bed sheets, in a privately owned castle in the Netherlands, led to a small search for this kind of sheets. In the 17th and 18th centuries bed sheets were nearly always made of linen, one to one and a half ell wide (70-100 cm). The sheets were made up to the required size by sewing the widths together in whip stitch. On very rare occasions bed sheets were woven in the required width, but if this was the case they would be recorded in household inventories. Necessity was made into a virtue by giving the sheets lengthwise insertions. These could either be embroidered or made of bobbin lace, sometimes even knitted.

   By sheets for showing off we mean sheets which are more decorated than just by the lengthwise insertions between the widths of linen. In most cases they also have an edge of bobbin lace along the top and continuing over 90 cm along the long sides. The widths are often hemmed in openwork. The sheets usually have beautifully embroidered initials, sometimes also a date.

   In period dolls’ houses we can find miniature sheets with insertions. One of them belongs to the lying-in bed in Petronella Dunois’ dolls’ house in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Richly decorated sheets are likely to have been used when a woman was lying in.

   In paintings decorated sheets and pillow cases will mainly be found in various deathbed portraits which were painted in the 17th century. Such portraits were mostly made of the clergy, the very rich and children. The finest example of a sheet for showing off can be seen in the 1628 painting of a dead child by Antonie van Ravesteyn in the The Hague Historical Museum.

   The Fries Museum in Leeuwarden has a number of beautifully decorated sheets, which have been examined for this article. Four of the sheets are dated, respectively 1628, 1635, 1662 and 1663. In one of them identical motifs have been used both for the embroidered initials and the insertions.

   In the Netherlands a group of women have been studying this type of sheet for the last 20 years. This Study Group Northern Provinces which is part of the OIDFA, an international lace society, makes replicas of the laces and publishes folders of patterns of the bobbin laces.

3. Ivanka Sonderman
   Lace Chamber Singraven
   Spotlight on an underexposed collection

   The country estate Singraven is situated in the village of Denekamp in the far east of the Netherlands, close to the German border. The last owner left it to the Edwina van Heek Foundation, which opened the house to the public in the summer of 1968.

   In 1982 Singraven accepted custody of the lace collection Ledeboer-Van Heek, when the Textile Museum in Enschede, which had housed it since 1962, decided that lace no longer fitted in with its collecting and display policies. Judith Geertruid Ledeboer-van Heek (1904-1983) did not actively begin to collect lace until after World War II, when she started to learn how to make bobbin lace under the tuition of Mrs. Van der Meulen-Nulle. She amassed 147 items and large and small gifts from private donors followed. In 1995 the Museum of Textile and Social History Jannink in Enschede decided to part with most of its lace holdings and also gave them to Singraven.

   From 1987 onwards each year a different selection of lace was put on display in the Lace Chamber. A result of this exhibition policy was that another private collector, Antoinette Fockema Andreae-de Monchy, donated her lace collection to Singraven, as she wanted her lace to be seen.

   Mrs. Fockema-Andreae, the daughter of the Rotterdam collector W.H. de Monchy who donated his lace collection to Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, did not seriously start to collect lace until the 1980s. Her collection comprises 155 items, half of which are complete fashion accessories such as shawls, collars, etc. Most of these 79 items date from the 19th century.

   All these collections together make up the Lace Chamber Singraven, where the full development of lace, including machine-made laces, can now be seen.

    

4. Adriaan Voskamp
   The marquisate crown
   

   The West-Brabant cap, a variant of the late-18th-century bonnet dormeuse, went out of use between 1940 and 1960. The material and its decoration of ribbons, bows and flowers were an indication of the place or region where the wearer was born. Typical for Bergen op Zoom and the surrounding area is the markiezaatskroontje (marquisate crown, after the marquisate of the town of Bergen op Zoom) which was worn with the white cap.

   When at home or working on the land women in West-Brabant usually wore a white crochet cap or a black undercap. The white lace cap was reserved for special occasions. It had a wide border at either side and a pleated crown. Between the crown and the border a long narrow strip was inserted. This cap was made of bobbin lace or embroidered net from Belgium. Machine-made lace was sometimes used for cheaper versions. The white cap could be worn with two false ringlets and a large bow. This bow, in many different colours, would not only be seen in the marquisate of Bergen op Zoom, but also in the barony of Breda. In both regions a kroezel (garland) would be worn with the cap. This high, floral decoration was made of gathered white net into which small, white artificial flowers, the 'forget-me-nots', and beads of white transparent glass, the 'dewdrops', were worked. The number of beads were an indication of the social status of the wearer. The whole construction was attached to a white silk ribbon trimmed with bobbin lace.

   Washing, starching and pleating the lace cap was a job for a cap maker, who would also refurbish the garland. The delicate flowers could not be washed or bleached and buying a new kroezel would usually be too expensive. The least affluent had theirs done only once a year, usually before Easter.

   However, making the marquisate crown was a skill which every housewife could master. To a long narrow strip of cotton net, trimmed with bobbin lace, five to six metres of narrow satin ribbon were attached in generous loops. Sky-blue was the favourite colour, but cream, salmon pink and pale-yellow ribbons were also used. Between the loops of ribbon small plumes of unravelled white cotton were attached, sometimes also tiny flowers dipped in white beeswax. Because these materials remained available longer than those of the kroezel, the marquisate crown lasted longer. Up till 1960 it was worn by elderly country women when going to church. The special lace cap with its ribbon decoration now only lingers in the memory of the people of Bergen op Zoom.

5. Ebeltje Hartkamp
   An image of lace
   On the work of Grinling Gibbons and Paul Beckman

   The famous English woodcarver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) made several works depicting lace. His ‘Cosimo panel’ (1682) was made for Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. A portrait medallion in the centre is surrounded by symbols of a ruler and crowned by two billing turtledoves seated on a piece of needle lace.

   Then there is the Walpole cravat, owned by the writer Horace Walpole (1717-1797), which is just a cravat tied in a big bow. It must have been a challenge to Gibbons to transform the transparency between the densely worked parts of the needle lace into the ultimate non-transparency of wood. Since Bernini (1598-1660) lace cravats have been used in marble portrait busts to attain a lifelike resemblance to the sitter. But no portrait rises above Gibbons' wooden lace.

   The carved lace in these works has been fashioned after Venetian needle lace with large floral motifs from ca. 1680. The lace on the Walpole cravat is rendered in less detail than it is on the Cosimo panel. In spite of this the Walpole cravat seems remarkably real. In this work Gibbons shows his genius not by imitating reality, but suggesting it instead. It is possible that Gibbons, by opting for suggestion instead of imitation, made the cravat into a of representation of wealth.

   In 1997 the artist Paul Beckman (1946-2000), was commissioned by the Schiedam Municipal Council to design a curved wall of galvanised sheet steel with a lace pattern, to be placed in one of the city’s squares. The folding screen that Beckman made in 1996 was also inspired by lace. The floral patterns in both works were taken from Flemish or Milanese bobbin lace from the 18th century, or a 19th-century copy of it. An intriguing aspect of the work in the square is the shadow thrown on the ground by the transparent wall. Transparency was a guideline to Beckman, even more than it was to Gibbons. This is also evident from the kind of lace he picked: bobbin lace instead of the less transparent Venetian needle lace imitated by Gibbons.

   Because Beckman's works have been placed in open spaces, the effects of shadow play an important part. A striking element in the way his ‘lace walls’ change reality, is the enormous increase in scale. Gibbons' wooden lace on the other hand, is rendered at approximately its actual size. Both Gibbons and Beckman did not imitate reality, but transformed it.

6. Madelief Hohé
   Developments in experimental lace art
   Designs by Els Teeuwsen and the Artists' Collective ED

   The last decades have seen interesting developments in modern lace art, both in the Netherlands and abroad. International lace exhibitions are a very important gauge for developments in this field. Since the 1950s objects made in (variations on) lace technique are seen as examples of visual rather than decorative art. The work of artists from former Czechoslovakia has been of great importance in this development. At the international exhibitions of the last two decades the Czech designers have been well represented. They are often progressive in design and choice of colours, whereas their choice of materials and technique are relatively traditional, for instance when compared to the work of Belgian-based designers and the Atelier van de XXe Eeuw (Workshop of the 20th century). The Dutch lace designer Els Teeuwsen (1941) was a member of the Atelier from 1989 until 1996.

   The work of Els Teeuwsen demonstrates a strong experimental character and a search for new shapes, materials and applications within the lace technique. From circa 1993 onwards she has been experimenting a lot with various kinds of metal thread, such as in Gouden Geschrift (Golden Document) from 1994. In Italy she received first and second prizes for her work, respectively at the 4th International Lace Biennale in Canti (1999) and the 8th International Biennale in Sansepolcro (1998). Recent works by Els Teeuwsen show that she keeps renewing, in design and technique as well as in her choice of materials.

   Her most recent designs are shown at the exhibition Gedragen Kunst, Kant als inspiratiebron (Art for wearing, Lace as a source of inspiration), held at Zeist Castle in the autumn of 2001. This is an exhibition by the Artists' Collective ED, which is presided by Els Teeuwsen. Around 75 works by the collective are exhibited in conjunction with historical laces from the collections of the Municipal Museum in The Hague and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. The subject 'art for wearing' inspired a large variety of surprising and innovative works. Many objects by the Artists' Collective ED are made three-dimensionally and are both wearable and interesting as autonomous objects. Most of the designs are executed in variations of bobbin lace technique. A lot of materials have been used, even synthetic objects, which have been integrated into the designs. The designs by Artists' Collective ED in Zeist Castle show the present high level of experimental lace art in the Netherlands and hold a promise for the future.

7. Frieda Sorber
   La Campinoise
   A lace business in Turnhout

   In 1987 descendants of Fanny Diercxsens-Aubergé donated several suitcases full of correspondence, lace patterns and other documents to the Turnhout City Archives and to the Provincial Textile Museum Vrieselhof in Ranst-Oelegem (now the Fashion Museum of the Province of Antwerp), both in Belgium. In 1901 Fanny Aubergé had moved from France to Turnhout, on her marriage to Jules Diercxsens. During World War I she became involved in the production of war lace in Turnhout.

   At the beginning of the 20th century lacemaking was still an important cottage industry in Flanders, although the competition with machine-made lace was fierce. In consequence pay was low and working conditions were bad. Many people, among them Fanny Diercxsens, tried to improve the wages and working conditions of lacemakers.

   After World War I Fanny Diercxsens started her own lace business which she named La Campinoise. Her most important client was the New York department store Altman. Fanny Diercxens was a member of the Chambre syndicale for lace, a department of the Brussels Chamber of Commerce. This syndical chamber tried to raise the profile of hand-made lace by encouraging innovative design and organising participation in international exhibitions. In 1937 Fanny Diercxsens' business produced a panel designed by Pierre Caille for an international exhibition, Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, in Paris. She protested, unsuccessfully, against the 1750 francs she was paid for the work, because it did not allow her to pay her laceworkers more than 14 francs for an 8-hours’ workday.

   It is questionable whether customers were interested in innovative designs. Most of the designs and patterns in Fanny Diercxsens' archives are traditional, the few abstract Art Deco patterns have hardly been used. In the end hand-made lace lost the race to machine-made lace and La Campinoise seems not to have survived World War Il.