Throughout the process of the formation of a lace two authors cooperate, even though they may be separated in time and in space: the author of the pattern and the lace-maker. The final product is mainly influenced just by the lace-maker's choice (choice of technique and adjustments to the own taste and knowledge). The chosen pattern (Musterblatt in German) then turns into a pricking (Musterbrief, Klöppelbrief, Spitzenbrief in German, dessin in French) by making it more durable with stronger paper or carton). Prickings represent an indirect source for recognising the prevailing motifs, figures and lace-making techniques. The oldest pricking found in the museum collection so far dates back to the year 1882 and was made by Johann Hrdlička, a sketcher in the Special studio of the Central lace-making course in Vienna. In this article, however, the museum collection of patterns from the time between the 1880s and the 1930s are presented.

The authorship of the patterns is entangled by the very disputable originality of patterns. I have namely found some pieces of entirely identical patterns with different signatures. Among the researched patterns the majority of the preserved ones were made by authors from Idrija between the years 1900 and 1910. Among the 28 signed sketchers there are 23 women, mainly due to the fact that the major part of the museum archives are legacy of the Lace School where teachers were mainly women. The pattern inventory from 1904 enables a reconstruction of the most fashionable and best sold laces between the years 1900-1910. Unfortunately many old names can now hardly be connected to patterns, because various reasons have caused their disappearance. Many of the names had elements of local culture and tradition, flower motifs and wit in their core. Some examples are fajfa, sulica, krempelj, gosenica, platenčki, škofovka, svetilka, planinka, babji zob, žirovska retičela, georginija, angeli, medvedica, zvezdica, račji rep, melonca, fuksija.

Marija Terpin



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