Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 24. (Budapest, 2006)
Lilla ERDEI T.: Chantilly-Laces in the Textile Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts
Veil The mysteriously transparent lace veils, attached to the hat were in fashion from the late 19 th century till World War I, adding an aloof behaviour, distanced elegance for those, who wore it. The semicircle - shaped veils, which could be attached to the hats by their upper, straight rim with a narrow silk ribbon, covered either the whole or some parts of the face. The piece in front of the face was decorated with minute dots and framed with narrow flower ornaments. The veil in front of the face could be made from handmade or machine made lace, but the combination of the two was also popular. The central part of the pieces (three handmade and three combined one) in the collection is closely decorated with dots, the outer, decorated moulding pictures wavy flower and leave - festoons. Those three laces of the collection which were made with combined technique are simpler, the patterns reoccur more often and they are also less varied. 2i (Fig. II) The handmade moulding is sewn to the dotted machine made central part. The black silk ribbon is laced into the row of holes running along the straight rim of the lace (Fig. 11 - drawing). The handmade laces have a richer pattern and the decorated moulding is not separated from the central part so distinctly. Their mouldings stand from two parts concerning their structure, combining differently in each and every lace. In the first case, the outer, small curved pattern is separated emphatically from the inner, closely connected to the inner strip, decorated with vine-leaf motifs. Concerning the second lace, the funnelflowers connected to the narrow inner trailerrow stand in the outer rim in a regular pattern among leaf-decorations. 27 (Fig. 12) Under the upper row of holes, small flower decoration can be found. Because of its size, the greatest veil has a wider moulding. The pattern consists of an outer and an inner moulding, elaborated minutely, and decorated with flower festoons, bending into each other. This motive is wellknown from flounces. The handmade veils covering the faces were constructed from four strips, which run parallel with the straight rim of the veil (Fig. 12 - drawing). Bonnet Several variations of bonnets existed throughout Europe. The only one piece of the collection 28 (Fig. 13) is an interesting example of the mixed application of handmade and sewn laces in one object. The part, which is put on the head, is composed from one lace ribbon, which is 300 cm long. The straight rims, starting from the centre of the head and the two ends were sewn together in a U-shape. The two turning points and the nape-part were creased. The sewn, fleecy lace in a half-circle was fixed to this part (Fig. 13 - drawing). On the bonnet, the elongation of the machine made laces can be perceived. So, if there was no appropriate lace piece and complement was needed, then in slanting lines, - according to the structure of the tulle mesh - the thread was led away through a few rows in this part. Interestingly, while the complemented part was worked off properly, the starting and ending points of the ribbon, meeting at the top of the head were worked off roughly, bending them onto each other. When used, the two long ends of the bonnet were fastened under the chin, so the hanging part functioned as a decoration. Its motifs take after the structure and motifs of the flounce pair, so it may have been made in the 1850s. Fan The transparent lace fan was an important accessory of courting and social life. With the way of its holding and moving, secret lovers could signal to each other. The lace fans took over the following traits due to the influence of non-lace fans: the fans pictured artistically designed flower-patterns, 29 later, due to the influence of paper fans, they depicted romantic landscapes."' Thanks to Dr. Ottó Fettick, the collection has three extremely beautiful fan-laces." Their date and place of fabrication is known, owing to the exact documentation of Dr. Ottó Fettick: "Éventail en dentelle Chantilly offert à l Impératrice en 1860 par le ville de Bayeux, exécutée aux fuseaux.
