La Sirena - The Siren

Besides monsters, I love finding Mermaids and/or Sirens in embroidery and lace. I can't tell you why and you could even say that the Siren is a type of sea monster.

From Giovanni Ostaus' La Vera Perfezione del Disegno per Punti e Ricami (1561):


They are always wicked in the old tales and it was probably not until Hans Christian Andersen that there was a sympathetic tale of these creatures - don't quote me, I'm not up on my Mermaid/Siren history. The Greeks didn't even associate them with the sea but the Romans did and since we're talking about Italy, let's go with the Romans! You do need to know however that Sirens get some bird-like history from the Greeks so sometimes they are depicted with wings. Enough background – on to the Sirens in needlework!

From Cesare Vecellio's Corona delle nobili e virtuose donne (1592):


Years ago when searching for Italian patterns, I came across the Coraggio Sampler by The Scarlet Letter. This sampler has all kinds of things I like including monsters and a Mermaid. I actually came across a sampler in an Italian museum with the Mermaid from this sampler on it but I didn't note it down and now I'd love to know where I saw it!! Anyone know? Please leave me a comment below!

I like the documentation that goes with the Coraggio Sampler, it has references to 16th century antique pattern books. I ordered it with all the silk threads and then decided to modify it with other antique Italian motifs I liked so it sits on the floor stand in my living room and once in awhile I sit and put in a few stitches on it. I'm afraid it has been sitting there for years.

There are several needle lace Sirens in Merletti e Ricami della Aemilia Ars (1929) including several on a round table centre on the cover which was a piece commissioned "from America", I tried to scan it but unfortunately I can't get a good scan, you'll have to take my word for it...

... there is also this Heraldic design by Arcangelo Passerotti from his Libro di Lavorieri (1591):


In the same book there is this one done in Filet lace for a tablecloth, the design is from Giovanandrea Vavassore's Esemplario di Lavori (c. 1530):


I have always liked the Siren in Elisa Ricci's Old Italian Lace (1913):


I took a crack a charting the design, what do you think? She's pretty scary!


You can download some of Elisa Ricci's books and some antique pattern books from the Online Digital Archive of Documents, or you can purchase a collection of 5 antique pattern books together in one volume from Italian Needlecrafts.

Frieda Lipperheide and Italian Needlework

When I first started collecting printed matter on Italian needlework, of course I looked for material in my own mother tongue. One of the more interesting things I found was Old Italian Patterns for Linen Embroidery by Frieda Lipperheide, (Muster altitalienischer Leinenstickerei in German) translated into English and edited in 1996 by Kathleen Epstein, Curious Works Press.

This is an attractive publication. I can't really call it a book because it is more a collection of folios inserted into a cardboard casing tied together with a ribbon. Very much like the 1897 edition of another publication on German needlework by Frieda Lipperheide that I have. Here we are, 14 years after Ms. Epstein's publication and this volume is difficult but not impossible to find. The Scarlet Letter seems to have it in stock.

Ms. Epstein's text is translated from an 1892 edition. I find it interesting because it has all kinds of patterns for counted thread embroidery with references to pieces which were either in Ms. Lipperheide's (extensive!) collection of from the collections of museums in Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Vienna. Also cited are paintings by Da Vinci, Ghirlandaio, Allori, Raphael, Titian and Bronzino.

Ms. Lipperheide believed that Italian embroidery types and patterns descended from Arab influence and many Moroccan stitches and patterns are covered. Her stitch diagrams are good and she often shows the backside. She mentions pattern books by known authors from the 16th century like Mat(t)eo Pagano, Federico Vinciolo and Cesare Vecellio but also one I don't know: Vittorio Serena. There is a good list here of antique pattern books but I don't see him.

I have a copy of an 1881 edition of the text...


... which, since I don't speak any German is interesting for the abundance of pictures and diagrams it has... there seem to be many more than there were in Ms. Epstein's later 1892 edition.

I took a look on the World Catalogue website to see just how many editions of this particular title there were (three - 1881, 1883 and 1892) and was amazed at just how much Ms. Lipperheide had produced. Who was this woman? Someone like me – researching the needlework of Italy from afar? I cannot find anything written about her in English though there seems to have been a book written about her in German in 1999 by Adelheid Rasche called: Frieda Lipperheide 1840-1896: ein Leben für Tetilkunst und Mode [a life of textiles and fashion? I'm guessing here with the help of Google translator.] I'm sorry it hasn't been translated into English or Italian.

Can anyone tell me anything about her?

P.S. Many antique pattern books can be downloaded from the On-line Digital Archive of Documents.