18th Century Lacemakers

Last updated: Sep 29, 2025

These illustrations depict lacemakers producing an 18th century lace we call “bobbin lace” today, but back then it was known as “bone lace.”.

Young woman making lace by Harmen ter Borch, 1652
Embroidery lessons by E. Porzelius, 1689
Pook & Pook Jan 29 2021, Lot 661, Georgian painted pine dummy board of a seated woman making bobbin lace
The Sewing School (Women working on pillow lace) by Giacomo Ceruti, 1720s
Laboratorio di ricamo by Pietro Longhi
A Lacemaker, with a Boy Blowing Bubbles by Louis de Moni, 1742
Of the Bone-Lace Maker, The London Tradesman, 1747
A lace-maker, c. 1760s
Lace making and stitch work, The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert Collaborative Translation Project, trans. of “Dentelle et façon du point,” Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 3 (plates), Paris, 1763
L’Ouvriere en Dentelle, 1770s; while the description indicates that she’s tatting, she’s actually making bobbin lace
The lacemaker, c. 1770-1800
A girl sits on a rock while making lace
Luxury and Industry, 1773
Frau Heigl by Peter Jacob Horemans
Susanna van Collen née Mogge and her daughter by Hermanus Numan, 1776
The Lace Wearer, rewarding the Lace Maker, 1783
The embroidery workshop by Pietro Longhi
Girls’ school, after Jan Josef Horemans the Younger
A lacemaker by Johann Anton de Peters
The Lace Maker by John Fairburn, 1795
Emma Corbett, c. 1795
Morning Amusement, 1796

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