Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Portraicts... page 32 (recto) 1588

This image is a page from a book, printed in the late 16th century, by Federico de Vinciolo. It shows a design for lace, rendered in crisp black ink on paper. The design itself is a study in contrasts; geometric versus curvilinear, dense versus open. The printed line mimics the delicate, painstaking work of a lacemaker. You can imagine the artisan carefully knotting and interlacing threads to realize these patterns. In its original context, this pattern book was not a work of art but rather a template for skilled labor. The pattern is not abstract; it is a tool, situated within a specific history of craft and aesthetics. At the time it was made, lace was a luxury good, emblematic of wealth and status, and the labor that went into it was highly valued. So, while this printed page may seem far removed from the finished textile, it's a crucial document of the social and economic forces that shaped early modern material culture.