1
Lace: high tech from the 16th century 16
The origins of lace
Frieda Sorber and Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols 20
The early development of bobbin lace Frieda Sorber 32
The early development of needle lace Frieda Sorber 38
Tools
Frieda Sorber 44
2
Spotlight: shirts, albs and rochets Wim Mertens 52
3
Key pieces: the Brussels and Geneva archdukes' coverlets 62
Albrecht and Isabella’s coverlet: a story in lace Ria Cooreman 64
Albrecht and Isabella’s coverlet: a technological study Nora Andries 78
The archdukes’ coverlets: a few afterthoughts Frieda Sorber 88
4
Archives, sources and publications: an attempt to reconstruct Antwerp’s lace industry
Marguerite Coppens 92
5
Spotlight: collars and cravats Wim Mertens 110
6
Laces for England: the Antwerp entrepreneur Jan Michiel Melijn and his lace trade, 1681–1695 Wim Mertens 122
7
Spotlight: headwear and coiffures Wim Mertens 142
8
Technical aspects of materials used in 17th- and 18th-century Flemish lace from the MoMu collection, Antwerp Ina Vanden Berghe 152
9
Spotlight: best linen for the lying-in room Wim Mertens 170
10
Antwerp misses the boat: the development of part lace in Brussels and Brabant Frieda Sorber 180
11
After 1750: the Dutch niche market Frieda Sorber 190
12
The tangible past: lace in 17th- and 18th-century doll’s houses Frieda Sorber 198
13
Style evolutions in Flemish lace from the late 16th to the mid-18th centuries: an overview Wim Mertens 206
14
Lace, laser cutting and 3D printing in fashion: visual parallels Romy Cockx 222