History woven by the finest of threads

“Of the many arts, one surpasses all. For the maiden seated at her work flashes the smooth balls and thousand threads into the circle. And from this, her amusement makes as much profit as a man earns by the sweat of his brow. The issue is a fine web which feeds the pride of the whole globe and shows grandly round the throats and hands of Kings.”

The Flemish master of oil painting Jacob Van Eyck wrote this ringing endorsement in 1651. As one who does not have a great track record in craftwork, I’ve always admired the delicacy and skill that goes into lace making.

There seems to be an almost ethereal quality to lace — Van Eyck’s “fine web” — twirling vines, birds, flowers and any amount of intricate and complex patterns all of which require a huge amount of dedication to execute.