Point de France

Point de France is a type of needle lace developed in the late 17th century.[1] It is characterized by rich and symmetrical detail, and a reliance on symbols associated with King Louis XIV of France, such as suns, sunflowers, fleurs-de-lys, and crowns. [2]

A piece of point de France lace produced between 1700 and 1725

History

During the 1660s, King Louis XIV of France was spending extravagant sums on lace from the Republic of Venice, particularly a type known as point de Venise, to the dismay of his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert.[1] In order to redirect this spending into the French economy, Colbert set up a number of official royal lace factories, which were to produce a type of lace he named point de France. He worked with the French ambassador to Venice to tempt needle-workers from Venice, Italy, and Flanders to emigrate to France, prompting the Doge of Venice to declare that defection to France by needle-workers was a treasonous act punishable by execution or assassination.[1][3] It is unclear whether this threat was ever carried out; regardless, enough Venetian needle-workers emigrated that the French quickly learned to produce high-quality lace.[3][2]

Point de France was popularized by the clergy, who used it for the ornaments of their rochets, a type of clerical vestment.

Most surviving pieces from the 16th and 17th centuries are now in museums.

References
  1. St. Clair, Kassia (2018). The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History. London: John Murray. pp. 146–147. ISBN 978-1-4736-5903-2. OCLC 1057250632.
  2. St Clair 2018, p. 148.
  3. Earnshaw, Pat (1999-01-01). A Dictionary of Lace. Courier Corporation. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-486-40482-0.
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