A Point de Venise lappet à réseau, 46 inches long, 5-1/4 inches wide 22 0 0
Point de Venise trimming, 8 yards long × 4 inches deep 65 0 0
A piece of flat Venetian insertion, 4 yards × 3-3/4 inches deep 92 0 0
A Rose Point flounce, 4 yards long × 5 inches deep 200 0 0
A Rose Point flounce, 3 yards 31 inches long × 22 inches deep 600 0 0
A Rose Point flounce, 4 yards 7 inches long × 24 inches deep 540 0 0
A Rose Point flounce, 3 yards 32 inches long × 15 inches deep 560 0 0
A Rose Point flounce, 4 yards 11 inches long × 18 inches deep, and a pair of sleeves en suite 650 0 0
A Rose Point flounce, 4 yards 3 inches long × 11-1/2 inches deep 510 0 0
A raised Point de Venise square, 1 yard 24 inches long × 1 yard 6 inches wide 450 0 0
An Old Brussels apron, 41 inches wide, 37 inches deep 145 0 0
A specimen piece of early Valenciennes, 2 yards long × 7 inches deep 42 0 0
The following prices have been given by the South Kensington authorities for specimens shown:--
A Venetian Point altar-frontal, 8 × 3 feet 350 0 0
A Venetian chasuble, stole, maniple, and chalice veil 200 0 0
A 2 yards × 5/8 yard Venetian flounce 125 0 0
Needlework pioneer art--Neolithic remains--Earliest known English specimens--Bayeux tapestry.
While the subject of lace-making has been treated as almost cosmopolitan, that of embroidery, in this volume, must be regarded as purely national! I purposely refrain from introducing the embroideries of other countries, other than mentioning the ancient civilisations which shared the initial attempts to decorate garments, hangings, &c. (of which we really know very little), and shall confine myself to the needlework of this country, more especially as it is the one art and craft of which England may be unfeignedly proud. It is assumed that needlecraft was the pioneer art of the whole world, that the early attempts to decorate textiles by embroideries of coloured silks, and the elaborate use of gold and silver threadwork, first suggested painting, sculpture, and goldsmith's work. Certainly early Egyptian paintings imitated embroideries, and we have good ground for supposing that stained glass was a direct copy of the old ecclesiastical figures or ancient church vestments. The Neolithic remains found in Britain show that at a very early period the art of making linen-cloth was understood. Fragments of cloth, both of linen and wool, have been discovered in a British barrow in Yorkshire, and early bone needles found at different parts of the country are plentiful in our museums. There is no doubt that we owe much of our civilisation to the visit of the Phoenicians, those strange people, who appear to have carried all the arts and crafts of ancient Babylon and Assyria to the wonder isles of the Greek Archipelago, to Egypt, to Southern Spain, and to Cornwall and Devonshire. These people, dwelling on the maritime border of Palestine, were the great traders of their age, and while coming to this country (then in a state of wildest barbarism) for tin left in exchange a knowledge of the arts and appliances of civilisation hitherto not understood. The Roman Invasion (45 B.C.) brought not only knowledge of craftsmanship but also Christianity. St. Augustine, to whom the conversion of the Britains is credited, carried with him a banner embroidered with the image of Christ. After the Romans had left the country, and it had become invaded by the Celts and the Danes, and had again been taken possession of by the Saxons, a period of not only rest but advancement arrived, and we see early in the seventh century the country prosperous and settled. Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, wrote a poem in which he speaks of the tapestry-weaving and the embroidery which the women of England occupied their lives.