Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts... page 50 (recto) 1588

This is an image from Federico de Vinciolo’s "Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts," a book published in the late 16th century. It’s an instruction manual, printed with ink on paper, meant to teach lacemakers how to create intricate needle lace designs. The image has a lively scene of animals and figures rendered in a grid-like pattern. Lace is essentially made out of a void, so this grid is an intriguing way of representing the physical structure of lace. What appears to be negative space, is in reality, the point. The image presents a design for the maker to follow, in order to structure holes and voids with the thread, and it dictates the presence and absence of materiality to form the pattern. This book was not just about technical skill. It was a signifier of cultural capital. Lace was highly prized at the time, and being able to produce or own it spoke volumes about one's social standing. This image then, is more than just a pattern; it's a window into a complex economy of labor, status, and material culture.