Armenian needlelace

Armenian Needlelace circa 2004

18th century Armenian lace cover, Honolulu Academy of Art

Armenian needlelace (also known as Bebilla, Nazareth Lace and Knotted Lace) is a pure form of needle lace made using only a needle, thread and pair of scissors.

Various threads are used in embroidery: cotton, silk, wool (often colored), as well as beads, pearls, feathers, precious stones, gold threads, silver threads, coins, etc.

Embroidery is used to decorate clothes, hats, blankets, socks, household items to create decorative images. Due to the material's accessibility, the simple tools required, and the wide means of artistic expression, it has remained popular among the Armenian people.

History

19th century cotton woven lace, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Like lacis, or filet lace, Armenian needlelace seems to be an obvious descendant of net making. Where lacis adds decorative stitches to a net ground, Armenian needlelace involves making the net itself decorative. Representations of the lace have been described on ancient statuary, and in centuries-old stonework.

There is some archeological evidence suggesting the use of lace in prehistoric Armenia and the prevalence of pre-Christian symbology in traditional designs would certainly suggest a pre-Christian root for this art form.

Armenian lacemaking is thought to date back to before the 15th or 16th centuries. Although no textiles are preserved from that time, lacemaking seems to be referenced in some stone sculptures, especially khachkars, which look like delicate swatches of lace. Arab historians of the 10th century, listing the occupations of the Armenian people, mentioned handicrafts, headscarves, blankets, which were apparently related to lace. 

It is believed that gold thread, silver thread, silk thread and pearl braided laces were known in a number of Asian countries earlier than in Europe (13th century).

In contrast to Europe where lace was the preserve of the nobility, in Armenia it decorated everything from traditional headscarves to lingerie and lacemaking was part of many or most women's lives.

Geographic spread

Lacemaking was widespread in almost all provinces of Armenia.  In the 19th century, Van-Vaspurakan, Upper Armenia (Karin, Kars, Alexandropol, Akhaltskhan, Akhalkalak), Cilicia (Aintap, Marash, Urfa), Lesser Hayk (Sebastian, Kesaria, Arabkir, etc.), K. Polis, Tiflis.

After the First World War and the Armenian genocide, lace business spread to a number of Arabian countries, Greece, France, and the United States. The geographical spread of Armenian lace also included a number of Armenian-populated places in Asia, Africa as well as Crimea.

Applications

19th century Armenian lace, cotton, silk, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York

Armenian lace-making is quite similar to other branches of decorative-applied arts, and its designs share many similarities with khachkar, including the symmetry of their designs, richness and diversity of ornaments, and stylistic unity.

Tablecloths, curtains, blankets, ribbons of various bochchas, handkerchiefs, headscarves, as well as collars and various household items (comb bowls, button, handkerchief pockets, etc.) were made using lace weaving. The "rose" on the forehead, which was a part of head decorations of the Upper Armenia women's costume, is worthy of attention. It was woven with a needle, multi-colored silk threads, combined patterns of small flowers and leaves. The white, silk lace suspenders with lily patterns of the Cilicia-Armenian women's costume are of interest. In Karin (Erzurum), Van, Baghesh, women wove the laces of their foreheads, the edges of yapush, and yazmans. In the decoration of the head of the Armenian women's costume of Karin, not only silk threads were used, but also mother-of-pearl laces, which were sometimes woven with gold threads. Ribbon-shaped mesh pearl braided laces were hung on the temples and used as necklaces. Lace tablecloths and curtains were popular in Shatakh.

Technique

The lace is made by tying knots, usually tied onto the previous round of the piece creating small loops of thread onto which the next round of knots can be tied. Patterns are created by varying the length of the loops, missing loops from the previous round, adding extra loops and similar.

When used as an edging the lace can be made directly onto the hem of the fabric being edged. When a doily or freeform object (such as the birds and flowers decorating traditional headscarves) is being started a series of loops is tied onto a slip knot which is pulled tight to complete the first round.

Armenian embroidery is rich in materials used as a base - leather, fabric, etc., as well as thread types and additional decorations. All kinds of wool, cotton, silk textures and home-made threads are used in traditional Armenian embroidery. The main tools of embroidery are a needle, thimble, scissors and a frame, which was of two types - square and circular. The square circles were called karkah (it’s a frame for embroidery). If embroidery stands were large, were adapted to be placed on the ground, and if small, to be fixed on the table. Golden thread embroidery is a constituent part of Armenian artistic needlework, which was widely spread throughout Armenia since ancient times. Armenian masters knew many ways of performing gold thread and silver thread embroidery, whose component parts were gold and silver.

Types of Embroidery

The types of lace got their names from the historical states of Armenia. There are known Aintap drawn thread work, Vaspurakan lace, Urfa darning, Sebastia khachkar, Edessia suzan, Marash blind stitch, Marash darning  and other types. There were two types of lace in Constantinople; needle stitched with colorful threads, oya and upholstery needle, woven with ghasan and crochet hook. Veil lace was popular as a head decoration in Shamakhi. The veil was knitted on the loop with a needle and a crochet needle made of silk thread. After knitting they were boilted with soap. Marash laces are sewn with two different types of needleworks; one was a unique flat stitch, known as the handle-needle and Zeitoun stitch, and the other was a woven stitch. In the Armenian settlements of Cilicia, along with other types of lace, loop-knot laces were common.

The patterns in Armenian embroidery are diverse, ranging from plant and animal ornaments to geometric figures and depictions of heavenly bodies. Embroiderers in different settlements developed these patterns in their own unique ways. There are also various types of embroideries, and samples have been preserved in Matenadaran, proving the diversity of Armenian embroidery. The most common types of embroidery include:

• chainsaw
• ring
• side by side suture
• crossing suture
• knitting needle suture
• In the case of thread-weight sewing, the place of the threads pulled from the fabric is patterned with other threads,

Topstitch has its types:

• Patterns are made from other pieces on a large piece.
• Filling - the surface of the cloth is filled with patterns.
• Hammock thread covers the surface of the pattern by the threads of the fabric

Embroiderers of different places used different stitches, in the white embroidery of Aintap, the patterns were made with thread, hammer, and linear platform. The platform of Marash embroidery is called needle-needle, the stitches are uneven, and the pattern is covered over the cloth by taking only a few threads from the cloth with the working thread.

Ancient Armenian Embroidery

Embroidery was widespread in all Armenian regions, concentrating in Van-Vaspurakan, Shirak-Karin, Syunik-Artsakh, Ararat land, Cilicia and the two major centers of Armenian culture in Tbilisi and Constantinople, as well as in the schools of settlements. Keeping the national uniform style, each school has developed its own forms and types of embroidery.

Armenian embroidery mainly developed in three major branches:

• democratic, related to rural dress and lifestyle
• urban, commercial-industrial
• ecclesiastical

Ecclesiastical Embroidery

Ecclesiastical embroidery is divided into two groups: embroidered items used during church utensils and rituals, and fabrics used for the ritual clothing of clergy. The first group includes curtains, aprons, table and other covers, crucifixes, towels, handkerchiefs for holding the cross, carpets, pillows, decorations of the throne of the Catholicos, embroidered pictures, etc.

The second group consists of embroidered shirts, crowns and helmets, belts, slippers, etc. One of the important components of the interior decoration of Armenian churches are the curtains, which are of three types - the tabernacle, the baptistery, and the baptismal basin. On the curtains are depicted Holy Mother, the four Evangelists, the vision of St. Gregory the Illuminator, St. Gevorg and other scenes with biblical themes.

There are two types of embroidered church carpets: eagle carpets and floral carpets. Floral carpets are woven with different threads and techniques and very densely placed ornaments. The floral patterns of these carpets have a lot in common with the frescoes and sculptures of Etchmiadzin Cathedral, which allows us to assume that they were also specially ordered and made in embroidery workshops. Eagle carpets are of special interest. These are quadrangular and round fabrics of different sizes, on which eagles are embroidered with images of snakes, scorpions above or below.

Armenian Embroidery

Embroidery is one of the widely spread crafts in Armenia, which has an ancient origin. Since the 5th century, Armenian historians have left descriptions of luxurious clothing and church decorations, most of which were embroidered. Thanks to them, we have data and information on Armenian textiles from the early Middle Ages, which at the same time indirectly testify to the earlier origin of embroidery.

Other evidences of the high development of embroidery in medieval Armenia are the miniatures. The miniatures contain very valuable pictorial and descriptive data on needlework. The variety of embroidered items in the miniatures makes it possible to distinguish three groups of embroidery: clothes, household items, and ecclesiastical outfit.

The 13th century fabric samples found in the excavations of Ani are high-value examples of embroidery. Among the exceptional samples, the silk clothes, blankets, and other pieces of fabric taken from the tomb of Tigran Honents' relative stand out. The mentioned items are embroidered with different threads, embroideries and ornaments, which gives an opportunity to get an idea about the features of medieval Armenian embroidery, the high skill of accomplishment, and in particular the aesthetic taste and other phenomena of the population of Ani.

Remarkable examples of medieval embroidery are the textures pasted under the covers of the Matenadaran manuscripts, three of which N3661 (copied in 1267), N521 (XIV century), N1518 (XVI century) were studied and described by Davtyan. They are interesting from the point of view of the fabric, the threads and, especially, the ornaments and embroidery techniques. Incomparably large and rich are the collections of church silk thread, gold thread precious embroidery, among which the oldest sample is the religious banner of Etchmiadzin Treasury.

Van-Vaspurakan Embroidery

Van was Armenian with various needlework, Armenians spread the Van stitch in different countries: Cilicia, Constantinople, and Middle East. Van was also famous for its types of lace. In the fine embroidered laces, ancient motifs of the universe, flora and fauna, geometric motifs have been preserved. Lace was made by tying knots that were usually tied in the previous round of cloth, creating small loops of thread that were tied into subsequent knots. The patterns were created by changing the length of the loops, adding additional loops to the previous loops. Tablecloths, curtains, carpets, handcrafts of monasteries (Lim, Aghtamar, Varagavank, Msho Arakelots monastery, etc.) were preserved from Van-Vaspurakan. Clothes, necklaces, bracelets, cuffs, aprons, kachak-chambars, mezars, etc. were decorated. Men's clothes also had embroidered parts, including pants and shawls,   whose fabric with bunches protected them from cold and rain. Among the samples in the Yerevan State Museum, a 6 and a half-meter-long towel embroidered by Van is preserved, and the napkins also had ornaments. Preserved samples of needlework feature many images of the tree of life. At the beginning of the 20th century, embroideries with patriotic and historical scenes gained popularity. Examples include: "Mother Armenia," "Artsiv Vaspurakani," "Khrimyan Hayrik," "Varaga Monastery," "Aghtamar," "Sipana Sar". The royal flag of Artsrun is a remarkable embroidered work.

Shirak-Karin Embroidery

The oldest examples of embroidery are from the 10th-13th centuries. Among them are the clothes from the tomb of a relative of Tigran Honentsi, discovered by N. Mar during the excavations of Ani, including the top, cover, and other samples. A masterpiece of Ani's handiwork is the image of a lion and a lioness made with gold thread on a black veil, displayed on a tree stand. The miniatures of the manuscripts preserved in Matenadaran are noteworthy, where embroidered pieces are used instead of the lining of the cover, depicting trees of life and plant ornaments. Ani's embroidery is characterized by intricate stitching, where one image is stitched with several types of stitches, and the gold thread and silk thread harmoniously complement each other.

In the 19th century, the regions of Shirak and the city of Gyumri, renowned for their rich culture, housed embroiderers' workshops where more than seven dozen masters and six dozen apprentices worked alongside two hundred silk and gold thread embroiderers. Similar organizations were also found in Shushi, Yerevan, Tiflis, Nor Bayazet, and Karin. One notable master embroiderer, Melkon Chilingaryan, showcased the Armenian costume (Armenian cloth) at Caucasian exhibitions in London, Paris, Moscow, and Petersburg between 1853-1873. In Shirak-Karin, the production of embroidered cloth flourished, adorned with various patterns. A diverse collection of embroidered towels exists, with each towel featuring a unique ornament. Additionally, there are preserved samples of silk purses decorated with gold thread. A church curtain has been preserved, and its inscription indicates that it was dedicated to the Church of St. Lusavorch by Maryam in 1613. When Armenians migrated from Karin, they also brought along embroidered images known as "Seven Wounds." The depiction of "Seven Wounds" can be found in the ‘’St. Yot Verk’’ Church of Gyumri. In Kharberd, women were also involved in embroidery, particularly notable were the embroidered saltas, a short top with long sleeves adorned with floral motifs in gold thread.

Syunik Embroidery

The embroidery tradition in Syunik extends to the Zangezur, Sisian, Goris, and Kapan regions. The earliest examples of embroidery found in these communities date back to the 17th century. These works feature intricate patterns, pearls, and gem embellishments, crafted with gold thread. Various elements of costumes, such as ties, shirt chests, and buttonholes, were adorned with embroidery. Members of the upper class, both men and women, had their ‘’mahude mushtas’’ intricately embroidered with gold thread.

Household items like curtains, pillows, towels, and tablecloths were beautifully embroidered. Towels showcased a variety of embroidery styles, including white and colored threads, flat and thread-weight techniques. Common patterns included the S-shaped tree of life and cross-stitch designs. Spoon bowls were also embellished with embroidery.

Syunik's embroidery extended to the ‘’giardaklyoch’’, the embroidered head of the curtain that adorns the bride's corner. This piece was adorned with ribbons and acorn, the latter covered in embroidery. Magical items like ‘’dzhu-chamayil’’ and ‘’fridayanuk’’ were also decorated with embroidery. Girls' and brides' shoes featured intricate gold thread embroidery.

Noteworthy were the tassel-handles, embroidered with carpet patterns, using various stitches such as shulal, flat, chain, and cross stitch. Pipe and lamp glass cases were also embroidered and adorned with beads. Luxurious floral patterns decorated the cover of the baby's crib.

A renowned example is the ‘’kranpapatan’’, embroidered with floral patterns using colored silk thread. Syunik gained fame for its overhead embroidery, where patterns cut from different cloth were attached to a single-shaded fabric with ornaments. Towels often showcased embroidered patterns in the shape of a tree of life.

In 1651, Catholicos Philip received an embroidered eagle carpet presented by the priest Voskan. This remarkable piece featured golden and silver feathers, a large eagle, cross domes on both sides, heavenly luminaries, and the image of a man above. The embroidery was convex, with intricate vegetable patterns. Syunik's monasteries also housed remarkable embroidered curtains, including a preserved sample crafted by Grigor Tatevevatsi’s sister at the Tatev monastery.

Ararat Embroidery

Ararat embroidery has a long history and ancient traditions. Already in the 19th and 20th centuries, he embroidered suede coats, bras, and linens. The cylindrical cushions of the couch, the mutt akas, were embroidered with gold thread and silk thread. Beadwork was also used at the same time. Curtains, tablecloths, towels, candlestick tablecloths, handkerchiefs, purses were also embroidered. The embroidered items of the Ararat valley are decorated with gold threads, glitters, and pearl threads. The embroidered church items preserved from the 17th century are notable for their embroidered offering letters. A manuscript copied in 1684 is kept in the Matenadaran, it has a satin cover. The shirt is made of silk black satin, embroidered with clapiton in golden thread, decorated with pearls, with two and three legs. There are embroidered carpets in the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the eagle carpets were embroidered with silk threads and convex flats. Gold thread embroidered carpets on ‘’mahudi’’ or ‘’tavits’’ are made with top embroidery. There are a lot of embroidered samples of church vestments, lapels, and blinds. One of the oldest veils is the veil of the Catholicos of Khachatur (16th century), on one side is Mary holding the baby Jesus, on the other, Christ crucified. The gold thread embroidered surface is covered with ornaments made of silver thread, it is decorated with beads, and there is a large crystal and 5 hyacinths on it.

Cilicia Embroidery

Handmade art has a long history in Cilicia, dating back to ancient times. Even after the fall of the kingdom and during periods of foreign rule, Armenians in Cilicia continued to preserve their artistic traditions, crafts, and culture. In the 19th century, embroidery emerged as a highly developed art form in Cilicia, with each settlement having its unique and distinct style of embroidery.

• Ayntap’s sewing

• Marash’s sewing
• Urfa’s sewing
• Svaz’s sewing
• Rubinyants’s sewing
• Tarson’s sewing

The most delicate embroidery is crafted using Aintap white thread on transparent fabric, employing a thread-weight, linear platform.

Urfa embroidery is executed on Manisa cloth with gold and silk threads. The pattern is bordered with gold or silk thread, incorporating thread weight and flat stitches. The short ends of the needle are arranged obliquely in rows next to each other.

Kilikia stitch involves the tongues of one colored thread entering the field of the other colored thread, resulting in small and dense stitches. The art of lace-making flourished in Aintap and Urfa.

In Sebastia, needlework was widespread, employing shulal and slanting stitches. Swazi and Sebastian's notable stitch is the tars stitch, where the ornament made with colored thread patterns the cloth from below, achieving the desired pattern on the surface. Young women's aprons and socks were commonly embroidered.

Tarson stitch involves silk thread filling on sheer fabric.

The Zeytun seam, known as a blunt needle, involves the working thread filling the pattern on the cloth, and the threads sticking to each other from the side. The edges can be short and long, and the surface is convex.

The Marash stitch had several versions; one was made flat using a needle-needle technique, and the other was a woven stitch. The technique is confidential, with the working thread following a specific order of transitions known only to the embroiderer. Various threads, including woolen, cotton, silk, and gold winding threads, were used.

The Cesarean stitch is very delicate. The embroidery is made with gold and silk threads on the transparent cloth, it is a thick seam.

Armenian Embroidery of Tiflis

Armenian art and culture were also very popular in Tiflis. It was a unique center for Armenian culture. Until the first half of the 20th century, an Armenian nunnery operated in Tiflis, where the girls were engaged in needlework with gold thread and silk thread. One of the samples of manuscript covers kept in the Matenadaran is a work from 1766, created in Tiflis. The Armenian embroiderers of Tiflis specialized in embroidering linen, household items, curtains, tablecloths, etc. After 1915, the Armenian immigrants who settled in Tiflis brought with them rich cultural traditions, especially lace-making, from different Armenian-populated regions.

The Typology of Armenian Embroidery

Armenian embroidery is divided into two major types: secular (with rural and urban subtypes) and ecclesiastical, within which the embroidery of clothes (national taraz and ecclesiastical outfits) and household items is distinguished. Both types of handicrafts are distinguished by the variety of used materials, threads, technical skills, the abundance of ornaments and various assortments. In the second half of the 19th century, several schools of Armenian embroidery were formed - in Van-Vaspurakan, Upper Armenia, Shirak-Javakhk, Lesser Armenia, Cilicia, Airarat and Syunik-Artsakh. Each of these schools has its own characteristics of handicrafts which are manifested in the materials used, threads, color shades, embellishments, areas of application and sewing techniques.

Ornaments

Armenian folk embroidery is also rich in its colouring system, which is expressed especially in ornaments. Perhaps the most important place in the art is occupied by vegetable ornaments, which have been known in Armenian applied art since ancient times. Floral motifs are very diverse, multifaceted and found in embroidery both in stylized, geometric forms and in a natural form. The most popular and common among plant motifs are flower motifs, which appear not only in huge numbers, but also in various forms. In various embroidery works, flowers appear both separately, as the main motif, and together with other images, complementing them and decorating the whole composition. Often, the flower patterns are repeated, incessantly continuing each other, or they form a bunch.

Floral ornaments are not limited to flowers. In general, the nature of Armenia and the occupations of the people are reflected in Armenian folk embroidery. Armenian fine art is also rich in images of fruits. All the fruits common in Armenia are represented in embroidery, but the most popular are the motifs of grapes, pomegranates, apples, and pears. The most important expression of plant motifs in Armenian applied art is the tree of life, which is represented in the most various ways, sometimes highly stylized and generalized. The tree of life is often the central decoration of the composition, around which other images are gathered. In general, the tree of life is never embroidered separately in household embroidery, it is surrounded by pairs of birds and animals, together with them it forms one complete image, expressing a certain meaning. Apart from the ones mentioned above, geometric and animal ornaments were also popular. The bird pattern is a fairly common motif in embroidery. Both clothes and household items were decorated with it. Among the animal ornaments of traditional Armenian embroidery, the snake-dragon motif has a unique place, which is presented in all its pictorial (real form and stylized) and semantic (good and evil) richness. In embroidery, the snake pattern is not one of the widespread motifs, it is not found as the main, central image, as in carpets and rugs, but as a complementary element that completes the ornament, it has many manifestations.

The human figure is the least common ornament. The figures of people sometimes found in traditional household embroidery designs, which are predominantly female, are highly stylized and geometric. Carpet embroideries are a remarkable part of Armenian needlework art. In the 17th and 18th centuries, exceptional and remarkable samples of embroidered carpets are preserved in many museums of the world, the decoration system of which almost completely repeats or shows great commonalities with dragon carpets and other carpets of the same period.

Gallery

Patterns of 20th century Armenian lacework, Regional History Museum of Sofia.

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  Armenian cotton lace, Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand

See also

• List of fabric names

References

• Kasparian, Alice Odian (1983). Armenian Needlelace and Embroidery: A Preservation of Some of History's Oldest and Finest Needlework. Epm Pubns Inc. ISBN 0-914440-65-9.
• Dickson, Elena (2000). Knotted Lace in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 1-86351-121-0.

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