Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)

Lilla ERDEI T.: Metallic Thread Lace Ornaments on the Textiles of the Esterházy Treasury

in the houses of Hungarian noblemen and affluent middle-class citizens from Vienna. Dowry lists, inventories, last wills, shopping bills contain a lot of references to foreign laces. Mention is made of Italian, Spanish, French, Flemish, Silesian laces, and innumerable accounts can be read of gold, silver, silk, linen, white, black, old laces. The majority of the metallic laces in the Esterházy collection are made of silver and silver-gilt metal threads and lamellae with silk sores. Among the family's textile bills, however, there is a single reference to a metal lace purchase included in the accounts of the Viennese merchant Augustin Cleer dated 1679.

5 There is only one mention of "true" silver and gold lace: "3 2/8 loth silber vnd güldene spitz ..." for "7.45" Hungarian florins. The rest of the list contains "false" silver laces, e.g. "16 ein falsch silbern spiitzen mit seiden ... 36; 24 ein falsche silberne spiitzen ...24 (florins)".

6 It is noteworthy that "true" lace, just as metal threads, is measured by weight (in lat) while the copper-based

7 less valuable and much lighter "false" is measured by length (rőf). Looking at the numbers, one finds that large quantities (24.32 or even 41 rőf = 31.87 m) were ordered of a kind at a time, which amount was sometimes used for a single outfit. This can be illustrated with the male garments of the Esterházy family to be described below, but a set of bodice and skirt for a woman could also be embellished with identical ornaments. Owing to the qualities of the basic materials, metallic thread laces behave differently from linen and silk laces. The thickness and rigidity of metallic threads do not allow for minuscule details and pliability that characterize the fanciful diverse baroque laces of sumptuous patterns. The relative technical limitations are offset by the diversity of the metallic threads: within a single lace, gold and silver threads, loosely spun threads that show the core between the lamella or wire segments, and threads of different widths could be used alternately. While in earlier kinds of metal lace the main pattern is linen stitch and wheatear endowing them with a rustic flavour, towards the end of the 17th century the main role was taken over by the ground mesh and the gimp running in it. They are massively simplified versions of linen laces but still preserve the character of lace. With rare exceptions, metal laces were laid on the ground fabric, thus, depending on their patterns, they produced the impression of embroidery or ornamental passements. Laying the metal lace on the fabric was also justified by the weight of the metal lace, because fastened to the garment edges metal laces could deform or stretch the expensive fabrics. Depending on the function of the garment, the metal lace was applied along the lines of the cut, framing the edges and any parts to be stressed, and in rare cases the entire surface of the garment was covered with metal lace. Metal laces on the textiles in the collection In the 17th century metal laces were widespread in Europe on women's and men's garments and ecclesiastical vestments (e.g. skirts, trousers, bodices, coats, shoes, bags, hats, kerchiefs, christening gowns, chasubles) and home textiles (e.g. bed covers and table cloths, curtains of canopy beds, etc.) In Hungary, both the nobility and the upper middle classes had a great liking for clothes with metal laces, the majority of these garments being worn by women as 56