Strip of needle lace with mirrored S-shaped ornamental band and iris

Strip of natural-coloured needle lace: Alençon lace. The repeating pattern consists of a flat S-shaped ornamental band in mirror image. The band continues at the top into a wavy branch of pointed and feathered leaves and an iris lying over the next ornamental band. The bands touch the top of the strip and run with a shallow S-shaped curve diagonally downwards to end along the bottom of the strip. The motifs are built up from festoon stitches, sparingly using very fine cutouts for decoration. The motifs feature relief contours and are connected by a fine hexagonal mesh ground, an Alençon ground. Ornamental grounds with radar picots are applied in the ornamental bands, rocailles and flower hearts. The flat shell edge is finished with picots. The top of the strip is finished with a knotted band.