DOI issue:
Nr. 107 (January, 1906)
DOI article:Levetus, A. S.: Austrian peasant lace
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26961#0294
Austrian Peasant Lace
and 9 the process can easily be traced. Fig. io ex-
hibits the same process, though at first sight it may
appear that the edges are made by piercing the
holes with a bodkin and then working round them.
It will be seen here, too, that there is a great
variety in the number of stitches used for filling in.
In Figs. ii and 12 we have curtains for a lit
d’accouchement. From these it will be perceived
how much the lace made in the Tyrol differs from
that of the other Crown Lands. The bed always
stood in a corner of the room, and the curtain
served two purposes. It allowed the mother to see
all that was going on without being seen, and it
also served to keep off the “ evil eye,” ever a
source of great fear to the peasant, even in our
days. Only a short time ago, when in Croatia, I
came in contact with a woman who was supposed
to be a witch, capable of working mischief. She
seemed a happy, harmless kind of creature, and
laid out the contents of her marriage-chest for
my inspection. They were most interesting, and
some of the things were very beautiful; and she,
too, possessed the magic curtain to keep out the
“ evil eye ” Many other superstitions are con-
nected with such curtains. One is that a woman
in confinement must not look out into the open
without something intervening, or harm will befall
her infant. The figure most often seen on these
curtains is that of the cock, the bird of good omen.
The stag seen in Fig. 11 is a very rare form of
Ornament. The threads must have been first
drawn, and then, after the ä jour work was filled in,
the stags were probably worked in what is called
full embroidery. The linen stripe is a very effective
bridge to the lace, which is quite twenty inches deep.
Here the Ornament was first filled in, and then the
threads drawn so that it appears as if the lace were
made on a network foundation, whereas it is all
done on one and the same piece of linen. The
curtain would probably be about ten feet long, for
it was slung over the bed-pole, the upper part
forming a kind of draped vallance. In Fig. 12
FIG. 12. PART OF A BED CURTAIN (TYROL) PROBABLY I7TH—iSril CENTURY
(In the Museum für österreichische Volkskunde, Vienna)
2 16
and 9 the process can easily be traced. Fig. io ex-
hibits the same process, though at first sight it may
appear that the edges are made by piercing the
holes with a bodkin and then working round them.
It will be seen here, too, that there is a great
variety in the number of stitches used for filling in.
In Figs. ii and 12 we have curtains for a lit
d’accouchement. From these it will be perceived
how much the lace made in the Tyrol differs from
that of the other Crown Lands. The bed always
stood in a corner of the room, and the curtain
served two purposes. It allowed the mother to see
all that was going on without being seen, and it
also served to keep off the “ evil eye,” ever a
source of great fear to the peasant, even in our
days. Only a short time ago, when in Croatia, I
came in contact with a woman who was supposed
to be a witch, capable of working mischief. She
seemed a happy, harmless kind of creature, and
laid out the contents of her marriage-chest for
my inspection. They were most interesting, and
some of the things were very beautiful; and she,
too, possessed the magic curtain to keep out the
“ evil eye ” Many other superstitions are con-
nected with such curtains. One is that a woman
in confinement must not look out into the open
without something intervening, or harm will befall
her infant. The figure most often seen on these
curtains is that of the cock, the bird of good omen.
The stag seen in Fig. 11 is a very rare form of
Ornament. The threads must have been first
drawn, and then, after the ä jour work was filled in,
the stags were probably worked in what is called
full embroidery. The linen stripe is a very effective
bridge to the lace, which is quite twenty inches deep.
Here the Ornament was first filled in, and then the
threads drawn so that it appears as if the lace were
made on a network foundation, whereas it is all
done on one and the same piece of linen. The
curtain would probably be about ten feet long, for
it was slung over the bed-pole, the upper part
forming a kind of draped vallance. In Fig. 12
FIG. 12. PART OF A BED CURTAIN (TYROL) PROBABLY I7TH—iSril CENTURY
(In the Museum für österreichische Volkskunde, Vienna)
2 16