Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 24. (Budapest, 2006)

Lilla ERDEI T.: Chantilly-Laces in the Textile Collection of the Museum of Applied Arts

LILLA ERDEI T. CHANTILLY LACES IN THE TEXTILE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS - IN MEMÓRIÁM DR. OTTÓ FETTICK Lace is never a simple decoration or a mere addition to a dress, a fan or a lamp-shade. Lace is much more than that: a piquant and exciting surface-effect, a piece of atmosphere: and the object on which it can be found has a special quality, turned to be something refined at the same time." The textile collection of the Museum of Applied Arts contains the most significant lace collection of Hungary. In this rich collection of laces, including almost 5000 pieces, there are approximately 100 pieces of Chantilly laces, handmade or sewn on machines. Most of the laces have remained from the period between the turn of the 19

,h-20

,h centuries and World War I as fragments or as accessories to dresses. Because of the extent of the collection of costumes and textiles and the thematic storing of the objects, the laces do not make an independent unit. They mainly constitute the pieces of the collection of costumes - on the basis of their original usage; the other half is stored separately in the collection of laces - mostly the fragments and those laces which are disassociated from their function: parts of fans or sunshades. In the essay, the Chantilly laces, representing significant aesthetic and economic value, are introduced. The difficulty of the research is the lack of Hungarian bibliography and work, done in the collection. That is why in my research I proceeded from the technology for which the theoretical basis was provided by foreign sources - museum catalogues, essays on lace history and fashion magazines of the age. The place of creation was not documented except for three fans, so the date and place of the objects' origin could be defined only on the basis of comparison (concerning patterns, the lines of construction of their motifs, their elaboration) with objects of foreign museums. This comparison allows interesting observations and the possibility of grouping. Chantilly lace Under the designation Chantilly lace we understand a bobbin lace with loose structure, which is made with continuous leading of the threads, more precisely, the background is made together with the motive at the same time in one process (continuous bobbin lace), most often from black silk. The mesh of this kind of lace, emerging form the second half of the 18

,h century was 'point de Paris' (or 'fond double', from the abbreviation of the town's name: 'fond chant''). After 1820, 'fond tulle'' was used, which is a lighter structure. (It is also called 'fond de Lille'

, after the mesh of the Lille lace and 'fond d'Alençon' after the mesh of the sewn lace of Alençon; and 'fond simple' and 'fond clair' because of its simply understandable mesh structure.)' The elements of the motive are filled with half stitch and gimp with a thicker thread. On small sections the decorative filling is 'fond de marriage' (honeycomb mesh), on the rims, picot is used. This lace is one of the most expensive types, owing to the capillary and valuable raw material, the special and meticulous technology, huge-sized and artistically designed pieces and last but not least, to its black colour, which makes the basically difficult, long and tiring work much more dangerous to the eyesight. From the end of the 18"

1 century, materials became more and more delicate, which were befitted by more airy, meticulously elaborated lace from more delicate material. The motifs of these thin laces also became lighter, the background got much more space. The ownership * Tündérujjak. VI. year (1930), 8th issue, 1. p (n.n.)