Strip of needle lace with symmetrical pattern of S-shaped ornamental bands and irises

Strip of natural-coloured needle lace: Alençon lace. Symmetrical pattern with in the middle an arch formed by two mirrored and placed against each other shallow S-shaped ornamental bands. The S-shaped ornamental bands repeat themselves parallel on both sides of the arch. Each ornamental band continues at the top into a wavy branch of pointed and feathered leaves and with an iris that lies 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, next to a rocaille motif that lies between leaves and rosette flowers. The motifs are built up from festoon stitches where sparingly very fine cutouts are used for decoration. The motifs are provided with relief contours and are connected to each other by a fine hexagonal mesh ground, an Alençon ground. Ornamental grounds with radar picots are applied in the ornamental bands, rocailles and flower hearts.