Point de Dieppe (Fig. 100) much resembles Valenciennes, but is less
complicated in its make. It requires much fewer bobbins, and whereas
Valenciennes can only be made in lengths of eight inches without detaching
the lace from the pillow, the Dieppe point is not taken off, but
rolled.[605] It is now no longer made. In 1826 a lace school was
established at Dieppe, under the direction of two sisters from the Convent
of La Providence at Rouen, patronized by the Duchesse de Berri, the Queen
of the French, and the Empress Eugénie. The exertions of the sisters have
been most successful. In 1842 they received the gold medal for having, by
the substitution of the Valenciennes for the old Dieppe stitch, introduced
a new industry into the department. They make Valenciennes of every width,
and are most expert in the square grounds of the Belgian Valenciennes, made
entirely of flax thread, unmixed with cotton, and at most reasonable
prices.[606]
[Illustration: Fig. 99.
AVE MARIA.--Dieppe.]
A very pretty double-grounded old Normandy lace, greatly used for caps, was
generally known under the name of "Dentelle à la Vierge" (Fig. 101). We
find only one mention of a lace so designated, and that in the inventory
made in 1785, after the death of Louis-Philippe, Duke of {221}Orleans, the
father of Egalité, where in his chapel at Villers-Cotterets is noted, "Une
aube en baptiste garnie en gros point de dentelle dite à la Vierge."[607]
[Illustration: Fig. 100.
POINT DE DIEPPE.--Bobbin-made.]
The lace of Eu, resembling Valenciennes, was much esteemed. Located on the
site of a royal château, the property of the Duc de Penthièvre, himself a
most enthusiastic lover of fine point, as his wardrobe accounts testify,
the {222}lace-makers received, no doubt, much patronage and encouragement
from the seigneur of the domain. In the family picture by Vanloo, known as
the "Tasse de Chocolat," containing portraits of the Duc de Penthièvre, his
son, and the unfortunate Princesse de Lamballe, together with his daughter,
soon to be Duchess of Orleans, the duke, who is holding in his hand a
medal, enclosed in a case, wears a lace ruffle of Valenciennes pattern,
probably the fabric of his own people (Fig. 102).
[Illustration: Fig. 101.
DENTELLE À LA VIERGE.]
{223}Arthur Young, in 1788, states the wages of the lace-makers seldom
exceed from seven or eight sous per day; some few, he adds, may earn
fifteen. Previous to the Revolution, the lace made at Dieppe amounted to
400,000 francs annually. But Normandy experienced the shock of 1790. Dieppe
had already suffered from the introduction of foreign lace when the
Revolution broke out in all its fury. The points of Havre, with the fabrics
of Pont-l'Evêque (Dép. Calvados), Harfleur, Eu, and more than ten other
neighbouring towns, entirely disappeared. Those of Dieppe and Honfleur
alone trailed on a precarious existence.
[Illustration: Fig. 102.
DUC DE PENTHIÈVRE.--Vanloo. M. de Versailles.]
CALVADOS.
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