A Victorian Example of Cretan Lace

Illustration: Example of Victorian Cretan lace.

This example of Cretan lace could be regarded as a combination of two textile crafts, that of lace and embroidery. Both are combined to complement rather than contrast. The lace background was usually constructed using silk or flax, while the embroidery threads were often bright and colourful and could be made from a variety of raw materials depending on the finish that was needed.

Originally, much of the pattern work would have been geometrical in nature, following the cultural example set by Turkey when Crete was part of the Turkish Empire. However, for a considerable period, Crete was also a colony of Venice and the influence of Venetian pattern and decorative work can also be found in the traditions of Cretan lace.

The illustration shown here was given as an example of modern Cretan lace that was produced in the early to mid 1880s. This was a time when there was a huge interest in not only in local and indigenous textile crafts, but also those of much further a field. This keyed into a general public interest in the foreign and the exotic, which through women and their textile crafts skills base could be introduced into the domestic home through versions of textile crafts not found locally.

This British example of Cretan lace was said to be ideal for either a delicate sample for costume or as a much more robust version using thicker lace and embroidery threads that could be used as a domestic accessory. The finished lace and embroidery combination could be either sewn or draped onto a coloured background fabric to show off both the lace work and the embroidered colour scheme, or it could be left as an example of Cretan lace in its own right.

It is fair to say that this example is a Victorian take on a traditional craft. The re-use and often re-imagining or even re-invention of traditional embroidery and particularly lace design and pattern work for the changing domestic and fashion markets of Europe and North America have left the craft with often various versions of traditional pattern work. It can often be confusing in trying to disentangle the origins of a particular lace name such as Cretan from the numerous Victorian 'improvements' or to be more magnanimous 'complements'.

This is not to say that nineteenth century lace work does not have either merit or value. The number of publications dealing with all aspects of traditional European lace work that was produced throughout the nineteenth century and particularly the latter quarter, helped enormously to document much of the regional styles of lace, many of which are no longer practised. These publications are now an important element of lace history and have become invaluable evidence as to the original diversity and dynamism of a craft that is often seen as remote and unconnected to the contemporary world. The Victorian modern versions of lace work have themselves now become in many respects traditional in their own right.

Further reading links:
The dictionary of needlework;: An encyclopaedia of artistic, plain, and fancy needlework
Lonely Planet Crete (Regional Travel Guide)
Crete: Discovering the 'Great Island' (Tauris Parke Paperbacks)
Frommer's Crete Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day: Crete (Pocket))
Crete (Literary Travel) 
Literature and Society in Renaissance Crete
A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World)
Crete. History,Art, Folklore, Modern Life
The Transformation of Ottoman Crete: Revolts, Politics and Identity in the Late Nineteenth Century (Library of Ottoman Studies)
Between Venice and Istanbul: Colonial Landscapes in Early Modern Greece (Hesperia Supplement)
A Short Popular History of Crete

The Embroidery of Crete

Illustration: Traditional Cretan embroidery.

The embroidery work produced on the island of Crete has many influences as designated by its strategic trading and cultural position in the eastern Mediterranean, situated as it is between the Asian, African and European mainlands. Particularly significant and important influences within Cretan decorative and craft arts are those of Byzantium, Italy and Turkey.

The traditional richly embroidered work of the Byzantine Empire has been much overlaid by significant innovations from the Italian trading city of Venice, which colonised the island for a considerable period before Crete's eventual incorporation into the Turkish Empire. It was the Turkish domination of the island that helped to bring in fresh new decorative influences and ideas from across the Turkish Empire, but particularly that of India as disseminated through Persia.

Much Cretan embroidery was produced in thick bands, mostly for costume, less so for domestic accessories, though a certain amount of embroidery for the home has always been produced on the island. Often these embroidered bands, which usually bordered the traditional thick and long dresses worn by women, were able to survive for generations as they were sometimes separated from the original costume they were made for, when that costume wore out. These embroidered bands could then be incorporated and integrated into the next generations' costumes. This meant that embroidery was being carefully preserved for future generations, while at the same time new embroidery was being created and innovated with changes and additions being made by each new generation. This tandem effect has made Cretan embroidery all the more richer and diverse over succeeding generations of women and girls.

Illustration: Traditional Cretan embroidery.

The two illustrations shown in this article are both rooted in the same compositional style. They both show a complex scene of various flora and fauna with numerous flowers, leaves and birds. Although one version seems more naturally based while the other is much more geometrically based, it can be seen how relatively close the two design pieces are to each other. It also goes to show how powerful the compositional narrative of flora and fauna is to the embroidered arts on Crete, so that abstract pattern work can still closely follow the same markers produced through a more natural style.

The theme of flowers, trees and birdlife is typical of much Cretan embroidery work and this relatively formal representation, including an almost symmetrical mirror-like effect on much of the pattern work, reflects the elaborate and formal embroidery work produced during the Byzantine period. However, there are also strong links with Persian work and the wider, more florid range of decorative arts that was traditionally part of the Venetian decorative arts. These three examples produce a good analogy as to the complex and constantly overlaid influences that have made up such a significant amount of the decorative arts of Crete.

It is no exaggeration to say that the embroidery work produced over generations by the women of Crete, is a living example and constant reminder of the wealth of decorative art that spans millennia of numerous Mediterranean empires and powerful trading cities. However, this was always linked to the work of generations of anonymous Cretan girls and women who have constantly been adding small, but significant details to the history of an evolving decorative craft that reflects the complex and diverse cultural and political history of this particular Greek island. The influence of these generations of embroiderers should not be seen as insignificant in comparison to the great decorative themes of history. After all, there would have been no embroidery at all if it were not for the generations of patient and skilled workers.

Further reading links:
Completely Crete website
Traditions of Crete
Arolithos - traditional Cretan village
Crete, Dodecanese, Cyclades Embroideries
Greek Islands Embroideries: The Northern Sporades, Epirus and the Ionian Islands, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Crete
Crete, Dodecanese, Cyclades Embroideries
Embroideries from Cretan weavings
Embroidery: Traditional Designs, Techniques, and Patterns from All over the World
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns