A Chinese Puzzle
by Margaret Merner and  Winnie Chang-Song Brunei
The photograph shows a piece of lace which was donated to the museum where Margaret Merner, my lace pair, works. To read the Chinese characters you first have to realise that they have been transposed in error by the lacemaker! It seems that the lacemaker worked the characters without transposing so that it reads correctly on the working (wrong) side of the lace. When you adjust for this error, the characters mean "From Heaven's Hall Comes Blessings". I have shown here how they should appear. 

This Maltese lace was donated to the Canadian Costume Museum about three years ago. The donor knows only that it belonged to her mother and that it would date to about 1900. The collar is made from a fairly heavy twisted silk and may have been starched with gum arabic, for it is very difficult to block, springing back to a somewhat rumpled shape as soon as it dries. There are a few loose threads in the second character. 

Margaret's research indicates that lace has been made in Malta since the 1830s, having been introduced by an English lady. It has been copied in many lacemaking centres since 1851. The features of the manufacture are
entirely characteristic of Maltese, which was all produced for the export market. Further than that, it is impossible to be certain of its origin - perhaps it was a special order for a Chinese tourist. It is somewhat unusual from a costume viewpoint and it is not certain that sort of garment it would have adorned, it is not really wide enough for a bertha - and the message would be at the back! 

An unusual and intriguing piece of lace. Both Margaret and the donor would be very pleased if anyone can provide any more information about it.

 
Top two characters R-L are:
Tian  (meaning "sky)
Tang  (meaning "hall") and the combination of these two characters mean Heaven or Paradise.
Middle character is Yong (meaning "forever").  
Bottom character is FU and can be referring to either Xin Fu (meaning "happiness") or Zhu Fu (meaning "blessing").  It is open to interpretation.  We prefer to use happiness.

My preferred interpretation is "Happiness in heaven forever."

My interpretor is not sure, but suspects this lace would have been worn at funerals as white is important at chinese funerals. 

Maureen Tweedly

 
CHINESE 
'NEEDLE 'LACE 

Tablecloths, doilies, placemats, and other relatively heavy needle laces were made. Workmanship was usually very precise but designs were stiff, and not artistic. Thread is almost always cotton. 

Clothwork Very little decorative work or shading is worked into the cloth work. Most often, patterns include only a basic dense and open contrast. 
Outline A cordonnet covered with buttonhole stitches is the most common outline. Chinese lace rarely used padded or picot-decorated outlines.

Mesh Mesh-based laces seldom were worked in China. 

Bridges Bars covered with buttonhole stitches or wrapped tightly with thread are the most commonly used. Very often, the buttonhole stitches are so closely worked that the bars twist and buckle. 
Simple, Chinese needle, lace doily might have been made at any time, at any place in the world 

 

 Ornament Very few decorative stitches are used. 

Characters spelling out good Iuck messages in this early twentieth- century silk bobbin lace collar might as well say "Made in China. " Plain clothwork; long skinny wheatears; braided back- ground, ana characteristic silk thread are typical, and provide clues that help identify other Chines, laces with no lables.