I recently came upon some photos of Flanders lace and now I can not stop thinking about it. It has long been theorized that the designs are figural and depict monkeys. Here is an interesting floral progression.
First: very old Dutch. This shows a central flowerhead flanked by mirror image leaves.
Next: this lace is called “aape” which has been anglicized to the “monkey” design. But, doesn’t it seem to have the same flow as the 18th c. piece above?
The next photo is the edging of a 20th century coaster. This may be the “Aape” design, just a few hundred years newer?
The fineness of different threads is demonstrated in the next photo.
Tags: aape, antique lace, antique lace and linens, monkey design, travel
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