The Czechoslovak Review/Volume 3/Czechoslovak Lace

by Emil F. Prantner

Czechoslovak Lace

By Emil Prantner.

It amazes a person familiar with the diversified industries of Bohemia to what extent the recognized and leading English speaking experts belittle or utterly ignore that country’s products. The lace industry of Bohemia is no exception. Mrs. Bury Palliser, a leading authority, in her “A History of Lace” (London, 1902), says:—“The modern laces of Bohemia are tasteless in design. The fabric is of an early date.” With less than one hundred words she disposed of the entire topic and is absolutely silent about the Bohemian lace accomplishments in the centuries long gone by.

It is rather singular, in face of Mrs. Palliser’s statement, that before the war, the shrewd expert buyers from the various European metropolises combed the Bohemian lace making districts and purchased all the insertions, edgings and imitation Irish point laces. In the world’s fashion marts these would be offered, at enormous advances and under fancy names, to prospective customers to adorn “milady’s” fashionable gowns and lingerie. Much of this lace found its way into the United States, mainly through German channels, for we must not forget that the entire American lace business was in the hands of adroit German merchants.

The lace industry of Bohemia is but a branch of the Slavonic art. The Slavs of Europe, the Russians, the Croatians, the Bohemians and the Slovaks developed this art to meet their individual tastes and needs. With them it was not an original useful branch, though it is reliably recorded that they “trimmed” their “costumes” with “embroideries” or “passementeries” as early as the eleventh century. To the Slavs it was an introduced art which was gradually made to conform to the needs and requirements of their picturesque, multi-colored national costumes. In this connection it is well to recall the words of Morryson, penned in 1868, that “The Bohemian women delight in black cloth with laces of bright color.” The background of black strikingly offset the excellent design, workmanship and quality of the laces.

It is seriously contended that the art of lace making originated in Venice. The authority usually cited in support of this contention is Christopher Floshever, who in 1562 published an exhaustive treatise on laces. The Venetian merchant princes of this period were recognized as the world’s foremost traders; they were resourceful, shrewd and very successful. They were the first to recognize in laces a useful article of commerce and introduced them into the Germanic countries early in the sixteenth century.

The Slav women of the fourteenth century were well versed in the art of lacemaking, for they engaged in weaving luxuriant and beautiful “laces,” oftentimes carrying out a motif in silver or gold thread for the embellishment of their elaborate costumes. According to Winter the art of lacemaking was well developed in the fifteenth century, when the young women made “delicate and handsome laces.”

In Russia we find that georgeous and priceless laces were produced in the thirteenth century. Near Moscow is the Trojicko-Sergievskoj Monastery. In its crypts repose the remains of many saints of the Russian church. Their bodies are clothed in robes trimmed with lace unquestionably made in the fifteenth century and which were made on a foundation of net.

In the far southern Slav country, Dalmatia, in the monastery of Dritti, is preserved a priestly robe trimmed with exquisite laces which are universally acknowledged to be rare and priceless. They are the product of Dalmatian women and their style was very favorably known, far and wide, as “Point de Ragusa.”

It is rather singularly significant that the laces illustrated in Floshever’s book so strikingly resemble in design the laces of the Slavonians, particularly those in which net is used as a background.

In Russia laces having net for a foundation were made a century before this style and method of production came into general use in the West European countries.

The Slavs made their laces without previously prepared designs, without the aid of pins, but solely from memory, while the West European countries required the drawings and pins. When we consider the different conditions under which the laces were made we are at once forcibly impressed with the high qualiy of the Slavonic product.

As a further proof that lace making is an ancient Slavonian accomplishment let us look to the people’s dress. Queen Anne, the wife of King Charles the Fourth of Bohemia, is portrayed by a contemporary painter as being dressed in a gown elaborately trimmed with rich laces. Charles was an ardent nationalist and it is certain that his wife used only Bohemian laces. Anne, their daughter, married Richard, King of England, in 1381. Her wedding gown was trimmed with handsome laces of Slav origin. Incidentally she introduced the first pins into England, which theretofore were entirely unknown in that country.

The present dress of the Slovaks of lower Czechoslovakia resembles in design, color and trimming the dress worn by the Slavs of Europe in the early ages. If we compare the description made by Adam Bremsky of the dress of the Slavs in 1070 with the costume worn by the Slovaks of today we are convinced that they are almost identical. If the Slovak costume of this age is an exact counterpart of the Slavonian dress of the eleventh century then may we not assume, and properly too, that the Slavonians were well versed in the art of lace making? In both periods lace forms an important embellishment of the costume.

But let us examine extraneous evidence. In Italy, in the sixteenth century, we find the highest development and greatest appreciation of laces. In 1580 Cesare Vecellio published an illustrated volume of costumes of the period. It was entitled “Habiti Antichi e Moderni” (Dresses Ancient and Modern). One of the plates represents a stately Venetian lady attired in an elaborate costume profusely trimmed with rich laces. Its caption is ‘Schiavonesco” (Slavonian). Thus we find that the Venetians regarded, admired and used the laces of the Slavs. These must have possessed artistic qualities or the Venetians would not have used them.

The favor in which laces were held among the Bohemians is astonishing. An edict issued in 1564 prohibited among other things “the extensive use of laces on shirts” and on ornaments of the body. The materials for dress to be worn by the nobility, the citizens and the serfs were prescribed therein.

It is not purposed to claim that lace making had its inception among the Slavs, for in all probability it did originate in the East and was introduced in the West where it was developed and perfected. But it is most seriously contended that neither of the lace worshippers, Venice nor Belgium, had a monopoly of its development, perfection and production and that the Slavs of Europe were in the foremost ranks if they did not actually outdistance the other Europeans in progressive achievment. To support this claim let us look to the year 1666, when Louis the Fourteenth instructed his Minister, Colbert, to cause a lace to be designed based on the patterns of the best laces available. The lace evolved was called “Point de France.” No other lace was permitted to be worn at the French court. Among the laces, three in number, from which “Point de France” was planned was a product of the Dalmatian women, “Point de Ragusa,” distinctively a Slav lace.

As to the origin of lace making in Bohemia we unfortunately possess no definite information. Traditions of the people oftentimes help to clear up mooted questions, but in this instance they fail us, for they are silent on the subject.

In Bohemia laces are made everywhere. No woman, young or old, lacks a knowledge of lace making. Up to a very recent time laces in Bohemia were produced mainly for trimming the distinctive national costumes. Of course, those of the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were coarse in texture. They could not compare with the sumptuous laces of the ages before. The cause for this condition is not difficult to determine. After the battle of White Mountain the Bohemians were reduced to utter poverty by the confiscation of their estates, therefore their laces lost much of their richness because the people could not afford the more expensive materials. They had to be content with what their meager means and slender purses would allow. But during that trying period the Bohemians remained true to their nation, language, customs and even dress. Under such conditions they retained the early designs of their laces.

Vamberk is Bohemia’s leading lace producer. Almost every man, woman and child is an adept at it. It is no uncommon sight to see a tyke of six weaving laces. It is certain that the industry took root in this section many centuries back.

Before the first quarter of the seventeenth century the laces produced here were distinctively Bohemian. But in 1627 a Belgian lady, fondly called “Countess” Gramb, settled on the extensive confiscated estates awarded to her husband by the Austrian Crown and taught a few of the daughters of the serfs the Belgian laces. Being well versed in the use of the pillow in bobbin laces, it was a comparatively easy task for them to master the Belgian designs. These women devoted their entire time to producing laces for the “Countess,” and when she died her pupils taught their friends, and thus the art spread in this particular section.

It is well to draw the attention to the fact that at the height of their fame the Bohemians made lace for their individual use, except some small quantities for export, for their distinctive costumes, the house and the women’s lingerie. Nearly all of it was made in the winter, when the snows were deep and the days bleak, by the wives and daughters of the farmers and serfs. These women toiled hard, extremely hard, all through the farming season assisting their husbands and fathers with the crops. The only time they had for lace making was in the winter after they had finished their household duties, when the evenings were long and the nights bitter cold. Before the high tile stove the family would gather and there women to the tune of patriotic song or a sacred hymn, or possibly a pleasing folksong, would weave the intricate designs in their laces. One wonders how they could possibly do it, but they were equal to the task, and they performed it admirably.

When at the beginning of the eighteenth century the national costumes of Bohemia were beginning to be discarded, to be replaced by the universal dress, the art of lace making received a sad blow. Thereafter the only laces produced were those for house and the women’s individual use. Consequently the inquiry and demand for laces became almost nil.

The grades of laces produced in the West European countries were introduced into Bohemia about this time. The Bohemian lace makers were experts and quickly mastered the technique of construction and design. It spread over the western portion of the country and quickly became an important industry. At present it is centred about the towns of Stráž, Sedlice, Vamberk and Dobrovice.

In the leading authoritative work on Bohemian laces, “Laces and Lace Making of the Slavonic People” (Krajky a Krajkářství Lidu Slovanského), prepared jointly by Maria A. Smolka and Regina Bíbova, we find this statement: “The artistic execution of laces by our people excites admiration. Their ingenuity in producing Valenciennes, Brussels, Netherland and Flanders patterns with flowery ornaments or harmonious grouping of numerous motifs excites astonishment in the neutral observer and he is amazed at the soft and delicate execution, while we are surprised. Therefore, we ask, how it is posible for the heavy and work tired hands of our old and young women to produce such delicate laces? Where did our people gain such extraordinary skill which is necessary in weaving the West European laces? To this question there is but one answer—the antiquity of the technique of weaving laces among the Slavs.”

It is to be regretted that there exists no comprehensive public collection of Bohemian laces anywhere in the world except possibly the small exhibit in the Vojta Náprstek Industrial Museum in the city of Prague. Some of the larger museums in the metropolitan cities treasure some small pieces. The Bohemian authorities on lace, Marie A. Smolka and Regina Bíbova, collected numerous examples of the handiwork of the early centuries. It is hoped that some day these may become available for public exhibition so that all may understand and appreciate the laces of the Czechoslovak people.

But New York is fortunate. Happily it boasts of a very excellent collection of black and white prints showing the laces of Bohemia. It is housed in the Webster Branch of the New York Public Library, which is located at Seventy-eighth street and Avenue A. Here the glory, delicacy, richness and splendor of the Bohemian laces may be viewed and appreciated at leisure. The kindly assistant in charge of the Slavonic department, Mrs. Matulka, is an inexhaustible well of definite information on these laces and she will willingly and gladly enlighten the visitor.

Bohemia the free will speedily revive her lace industry, particularly the commercial, and will return to her former state of quantitative and artistic production. Her laces will be offered to the world as her products, under her labels and names. By reestablishing herself in her former position in the lace industry and, incidentally, stimulating the production the world at large will be the ultimate gainer.

---

*) Written for the New York Herald.

---