Reticella (also reticello or in French point coupé or point couppe) is a
needle lace
Needle lace is a type of lace created using a needle and thread to create hundreds of small stitches to form the lace itself.
Origins
The origins of needle lace date back to the 15th century and embroidery. Cutwork and drawn work were de ...
dating from the 15th century and remaining popular into the first quarter of the 17th century.
Reticella was originally a form of
cutwork
Cutwork or cut work, also known as in Italian, is a needlework technique in which portions of a textile, typically cotton or linen, are cut away and the resulting "hole" is reinforced and filled with embroidery or needle lace.
Cutwork is related ...
in which
threads were pulled from
linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...
fabric to make a "grid" on which the pattern was stitched, primarily using
buttonhole stitch
Buttonhole stitch and the related blanket stitch are hand-sewing stitches used in tailoring, embroidery, and needle lace-making.
Applications
Traditionally, this stitch has been used to secure the edges of buttonholes. In addition to reinforc ...
. Later reticella used a grid made of thread rather than a fabric ground. Both methods resulted in a characteristic geometric design of squares and circles with various arched or scalloped borders.
Books of patterns for reticella designed by
Federico de Vinciolo (France, 1587) and
Cesare Vecellio (Italy, probably from the 1590s but printed 1617) were popular and were frequently reprinted.
Reticella developed into
Punto in Aria.
Gallery
Image:Italy, 16th-17th century - Needlepoint (Reticella) Lace Square - 1920.1098 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, Italy, 16th-17th century - Needlepoint (Reticella) Lace Square - 1920.1098 - Cleveland Museum of Art
Image:Reticella vinciolo.gif, Pattern for reticella or ''point couppe'' from Vinciolo's ''Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Pourtaicts'', 1609 reprint of 1587 edition.
Image:Nouveaux pourtraicts de point coupé.jpg, Nouveaux pourtraicts de point coupé
Image:Sampler with needle lace and cutwork MET DP162636.jpg, Sampler with needle lace and cutwork MET DP162636
Image:Italy, Venice, 16th century - Needlepoint (Reticella) Lace Insertion - 1920.1073 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, Italy, Venice, 16th century - Needlepoint (Reticella) Lace Insertion - 1920.1073 - Cleveland Museum of Art
Image:Larkin cary detail.jpg, English woman wearing a reticella lace collar and cuffs tinted with yellow starch, c. 1614-1618
Image:Kraag van linnen met tussenzetsel en schulpstroken in reticella, BK-1978-461.jpg, Kraag van linnen met tussenzetsel en schulpstroken in reticella, BK-1978-461
Image:Panel - Google Art Project (6851208).jpg, Panel - drawn element work with needle lace, reticella style
Notes
References
Berry, Robin L.: "Reticella: a walk through the beginnings of Lace" (2004) (PDF)*Kliot, Jules and Kaethe: ''The Needle-Made Lace of Reticella'', Lacis Publications, Berkeley, CA, 1994. .
*Montupet, Janine, and Ghislaine Schoeller: ''Lace: The Elegant Web'', .
*
Ribeiro, Aileen: ''Fashion and Fiction: Dress in Art and Literature in Stuart England,'' Yale, 2005,
*Vinciolo, Federico: ''Renaissance Patterns for Lace, Embroidery and Needlepoint'', Dover Books, 1971.
External links
Online facsimile of Vinciolo's ''Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Pourtaicts''
Needle lace
Textile arts of Italy
Textile arts of France
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