Embroidery and lace: their manufacture and history from the remotest antiquity to the present dayA handbook for amateurs, collectors and general readers . of which gains in vividness if one recalls thefacts that certain velvet copes, bereft of their goldenfigures, orphreys, and laces, were even then purchasedat prices from 695 to 800 livres (about £27 to £32),the bids for those disposed of at a single sale aloneamounting to 24,350 livres (or £1,217). When the tumult and horrors of the Revolution, soinimical to the gentle pursuits of embroideresses, hadsubsided, bees, in lieu of fleurs de lys,
Embroidery and lace: their manufacture and history from the remotest antiquity to the present dayA handbook for amateurs, collectors and general readers . of which gains in vividness if one recalls thefacts that certain velvet copes, bereft of their goldenfigures, orphreys, and laces, were even then purchasedat prices from 695 to 800 livres (about £27 to £32),the bids for those disposed of at a single sale aloneamounting to 24,350 livres (or £1,217). When the tumult and horrors of the Revolution, soinimical to the gentle pursuits of embroideresses, hadsubsided, bees, in lieu of fleurs de lys, were abundantlyembroidered ; but as wars virtually absorbed the 158 I. EMBROIDERY. attention and energies of the nation during the Empire,embroidery received scanty recognition and encourage-ment. Comparatively few of such handsome costumesand uniforms as are painted by Gerard in his portraitsof Napoleon, Josephine, and Marie-Louise were to beseen in the saloons of the imperial court (fig. 73). At the coronation of Charles X. the robes of statewere profusely worked with gold, as the big picture ofthe ceremony, now at Versailles, shows us; but on. Fig- 73-—Silver spangle embroidery for a coat, Empire period(in the Museum of Decorative Arts). passing into a few rooms further on, similar pictures ofthe splendid functions, under Louis XIV., will be foundsignificantly emphasizing the decadence which, mean-while, had ensued and culminated in later phases ofpoor artistic needlework. Within the last fifty years works of embroidery havebeen very widely diffused, and their use adopted amongstall classes of society, as well as in countries whichfollow European fashions. Development of commercialrelations has singularly favoured the life of the industry, FROM LOUIS XV. TO THE PRESENT TIME. 159 though much more so as regards quantity than beautyof production. It may be safely stated that embroidered ornamentshave been, and are still, very considerably applied tocostume, house decoratio
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectembroi, booksubjectlaceandlacemaking
